Giving away good ideas may seem counterintuitive, but providing free attorney thought leadership is one of the best ways to get new business. The purpose of creating thought leadership content is to provide answers, make sense of complex information, and chart a future course for a reader, viewer, or listener. By consistently generating high-quality content and publishing it to the right audiences, a lawyer will generate awareness, build trust, and develop new business opportunities. Many lawyers don’t realize these benefits, however, because they’re concerned about giving their ideas away. When they do create thought leadership content, they hold back. Their concerns are rooted in a belief that their insights will be put to use, independently, by a prospective client, and thus their efforts will be wasted. This belief is understandable but mistaken. A prospective client isn’t searching for a solution to a complex legal challenge so they can implement the solution themselves. They’re seeking clarity so they can assess what they’re faced with and identify the right expert to help guide them forward. A lawyer’s stock-in-trade is providing knowledge in exchange for a fee. It may seem counterintuitive, but one of the best ways to generate new business opportunities is to share your best ideas for free. Free Attorney Thought Leadership Content is Your Proxy A very small number of the world’s greatest chefs, such as Grant Achatz of Chicago’s famed Alinea restaurant, can offer a single, unalterable tasting menu for an astronomical price and pack the house every night. For the top chefs, their reputations precede them. They’ve earned such high levels of trust that people will accept what they’re serving and pay handsomely for it, sight unseen. For the other 99.9% of restaurateurs out there, offering a menu of options with explanations of ingredients and cooking techniques is

Hiring is incredibly difficult right now no matter what industry you are in. Thankfully, many industries — including legal — have full-on embraced remote work. And for law firms, remote work opens the door to alternative hiring options, including outsourcing substantive legal work to freelance lawyers. The good news is that it has never been easier to hire freelance attorneys to support and help build your business. Freelancers can help you reduce costs, improve efficiency, and allow existing employees to focus on core goals and tasks. It’s not hard to see why freelancers could represent 80% of the global workforce by 2030. Despite this, it’s still possible to land yourself in a freelancing nightmare if you don’t hire correctly. Screening Freelance Lawyers to Find the Right Fit If you are embarking on your outsourcing journey, a structured hiring process — including background screening and interviews — will help you filter through the best candidates. Asking the right questions during the interview process is critical in helping you navigate the freelance space. Here are some essential questions to ask any freelance lawyer before you commit to hiring, as well as some common red and green flags to look out for along the way. 1. What experience do you have? This question should be at the top of your list during the hiring process. Reading about all of this on a résumé is one thing, but having an actual discussion with the freelancer about relevant experience and background will help you gain valuable insight. In addition to understanding their practice area background, it’s important to know whether freelancers have worked in a team before and how they have performed. Similarly, understanding how long they have been freelancing and whether it suits them helps judge their ability to work well in this type of