ABA Journal

Legal Rebels Updates

Freelance attorney network Custom Counsel acquired by CuroLegal


By Stephanie Francis Ward

  •  
  •  
  •  
  • Print

Nicole Bradick

Custom Counsel, a service which matches lawyers available to do contract work with law firms and legal departments that need temporary or project-based help, was recently acquired by CuroLegal, an outsourced law-practice-management company.

Many lawyers use Custom Counsel for litigation support work, including brief writing, says founder Nicole Bradick, who was also a 2012 ABA Journal Legal Rebel and recent guest columnist for the Journal’s The New Normal. She has joined CuroLegal as its chief strategy officer, and a part owner.

Lawyers doing the contract work set their own rates, which is usually between $100 to $175 an hour, Bradick says. Most of the lawyers available have between 10 and 15 years of practice experience, but Bradick would like to add more recent lawyers to the mix.

“Our hope is to try to figure out a way to put new lawyers to work,” she says. “Clients like the fact that our lawyers have been practicing a while, but we can see opportunities to work with bar associations, and figure out alternative means of training new lawyers, and using new lawyers for contract work.“

Based in Maine, Bradick founded Custom Counsel in 2012. She says that the service, which will continue to be branded as Custom Counsel, now has about 150 attorneys screened and ready to work, and an extended network of about 1,000 attorneys to tap if needed. The service is offered in almost every jurisdiction, she says.

“The model that Nicole has created with Custom Counsel just makes sense for so many reasons, and it is a perfect addition to the service offerings we have in place at [CuroLegal],” said CuroLegal CEO Chad Burton in a press release (PDF).

Post last updated at 1:15 p.m. Feb. 4 to clarify the number of attorneys in the Custom Counsel network.

In This Podcast:

Give us feedback, share a story tip or update, or report an error.