Tell us a little bit about your legal career and why you decided to become a freelance lawyer with LawFlex?
I provide an innovative and progressive global perspective to clients on cybersecurity, technology and SAAS transactions, e-health, data privacy and AI, intellectual property, and a wide range of commercial, compliance, and employment matters, which I have developed during my more than 20-year professional career.
I have practiced at large international law firms (NY offices of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP and the healthcare group of Epstein, Becker & Green P.C., and Israeli office of Meitar Law Offices) where I advised a variety of U.S. and international entities, ranging from growth-stage to some of the world’s largest corporations. I combined this extensive law firm training with more hands-on business focused experience gained as an in-house advisor to global technology corporations, GuruNet Corporation (AMEX:GRU), Answers.com, an online platform, Ericom Software, a privately held, international cybersecurity company, and Advanced Health Technologies, an early stage online prescription and lab results technology corporation.
This extensive experience enables me to provide creative, business-minded, and results-driven legal solutions that are well balanced against a client’s commercial needs. After 15 years in-house and with the start of COVID and entering the sandwich generation with my mother’s move to Israel, I decided to explore opportunities that would give me more flexibility and ownership of my professional life.
What kind of projects have you worked on since joining LawFlex?
I have worked on a variety of different legal issues for a variety of different clients, which I really enjoy. I have been hired for my specific expertise, in SaaS agreements, licensing, data privacy, employment, compliance, website agreements and policies, AI and healthcare, U.S. specific legal issues and others. I have worked directly with law firms, which did not have certain expertise that a client required or needed additional legal resources during a busy period. I have also worked with large international corporations, which needed more legal bandwidth and U.S. expertise, and small start-ups, which appreciated my extensive experience and business-minded solutions at a reasonable cost.
What benefits does being a freelance lawyer bring?
One of the main benefits of freelance lawyering is the flexibility it offers. I wanted a flexible career that allowed me to balance challenging legal work with my other interests and responsibilities. I can set my own schedule and choose the projects on which I want to work. I can control my workload as I believe is best for my clients and to meet my non-professional responsibilities and recreational interests. I balance work with family responsibilities, exercise, and engaging in philanthropy. Working as a freelancer enables me to give more back to society and pursue different avenues that fuel my health and interests. Freelancing is also a great way to supplement my income while operating my own firm.
Additionally, since I can choose my clients and balance my workload, I can give more personalized services to each of my clients. I get to know the people with whom I am working and the companies on a more personalized basis.
What role do you think Legal Outsourcing ALSPs play in the legal market?
ALSPs provide options for specialized services, improving cost efficiency, and delivering greater flexibility in headcount. Additionally, Attornies working with ALSPs can offer competitive pricing to clients, while still ensuring high-quality services. I believe as a freelancer I work much more efficiently as possible since there is no hierarchy with a partner and a senior and junior associate, which adds substantial cost to the client. The client works directly with me and receives my specialized expertise on a highly experienced level.
What would you say to someone considering becoming a freelance lawyer with LawFlex?
One of the greatest challenges I have found in starting my own firm is becoming an expert in marketing and business, in addition to my legal expertise on which I have focused over the last more than 20-years. LawFlex has given me true value added on the marketing and business side and offers resources to help attorneys succeed, making it easy to build a freelance career. For example, LawFlex offers an easy-to-use platform, which includes an easy-to-use time keeping feature and assists with all invoicing. The people working at LawFlex are very flexible and take the attorneys’ requests into consideration. They took my concerns about my ethical obligations seriously and worked closely with me to address each of them to my satisfaction. Most importantly, when working on your own, you sometimes need to bounce business ideas off others. I have found LawFlex to be extremely responsive and constructive.