Small and medium-sized companies that cannot afford in-house counsel might be a good target for your lawyer marketing, if you would want to serve in that capacity on an outsourced basis. This idea involves more than just serving as a company’s outside law firm. Rather, it would entail the lawyer actually working out of the client’s offices on a part-time basis. You could charge on an hourly rate basis for a fixed number of hours per month, or for six months, or whatever; but it would likely be more viable to a small business if you offered the service on a fixed fee, retainer basis.

That is just what one New York lawyer is doing according to an article on “outside” in-house counsel by Gina Passarella that appeared in The Legal Intelligencer and Small Firm Business. The lawyer, J. Paul Caulfield, had worked as an in-house lawyer prior to going out on his own, but that shouldn’t be an absolute requirement as long as you are familiar with the legal needs of small businesses. Of course, it would be very beneficial if you were familiar with and understand the specific business involved.

If this is something you would be interested in for your practice, you might want to read Gina’s article in its entirety.