New strategies for hiring lawyers

The recession has brought changes to the business of law, including lower fees and less costly billing arrangements, say industry reports and managing partners in firms large and small. And that can mean advantages for small-business owners, provided they know how to find a law firm that suits their needs and they know the right questions to ask.

Some entrepreneurs who have been around a while offer pointers. Juliet Huck is founder of the Huck Group, a 10-employee consulting company that is based in Los Angeles and creates graphic presentations to help participants in litigation tell their stories in court.

Huck said that she has found ways to make less costly billing arrangements, even when she hasn’t found lower fees. “A large firm might assign me a junior associate at a lower billing rate,” she said, “and that is all right because I have access to the firm’s expertise when I need it for difficult questions.”

Huck engages different lawyers for specific issues, like employment law or intellectual property protection, and finds them by referral. Because she runs a courtroom-based business, this is a relatively easy task for her, but she is careful to follow up. “I ask a lot of questions about work an attorney has done in a particular field,” she said.

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