Staffing agency profile: Legal Placements, Inc

We start a new series today in which we will profile a number of contract attorney agencies.  We have spent the last several months interviewing a wide range of agencies across the country, at e-discovery conferences and in their offices.   

We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Lori DiCesare, CEO, President and founder of Legal Placements, Inc. (LPI).  She is celebrating her 13^th anniversary in the legal staffing industry.  The firm offers temporary, permanent and temporary to permanent staffing of law firms and corporations by providing hundreds of contract attorneys, direct hire attorneys, legal assistants, legal secretaries, IT professionals and administrative assistants to nearly 400 clients.  LPI’s headquarters is in Washington, D.C. with a second office which figures prominently in Northern Virginia.

TPL:    Lori, how did you begin? 

LPI:     LPI began business in October of 1996, with a mere investment of $5,000, one employee, a make-shift office, no IT support and one curious prospect.  Since its inception, LPI has grown into a multi-million dollar business.  We grew from one employee to 25 employees.  It was a laborious, time consuming project because I wanted to get it right.  I had a strategy.  I judiciously hand-selected my staff.  I know you have heard it before but I built this business from the proverbial “ground up”.

TPL:  And the other proverbial saying is “you are only as good as your people”. 

LPI:     Exactly.  I know I wouldn’t be where I am today without my hard-working, loyal and motivated staff.  And I am proud to say that LPI is comprised of legal experts and staffing specialists.  It has to be that way because to win business you must serve your clients with the utmost precision.   We want our clients to know that we know their business better than they do.  We want to become masters at execution when it comes to staffing firms and companies.

TPL:    We saw a rough patch earlier this year with a huge fall off in work because of the financial meltdown.  How did you fare during the crisis?  

LPI:     I changed the direction of the company by adding another division.  LPI has been successful in placing Partners and Practice Groups in law firms.  This seemed like the logical next step for my business.  I have also expanded the markets we serve and will continue to do so in January 2010.  Our 4^th quarter saw a significant increase in contract attorney projects, and I suspect this will continue into the first quarter of 2010.

TPL:    So you think we are back to form? 

LPI:     I think it will be a slow climb forward, and I cannot see this economy truly picking up until 2011.  Until banks start lending again, there will be a slow progression in the recovery process.  In some cases it is unfortunate that the bail-out money didn’t end up where it should have — small business where the majority of the hiring is, and the true pistons of the economy.

TPL:    Foreign language projects still rule the roost with a continuing stream of FCPA and IP litigation cases dominating the project/contract attorney market.  We estimate they comprise 80% of our postings.  Is that a high percentage of your work? 

LPI:     Yes, FCPA and IP litigation cases are the majority of our work.  We focus on aggressively recruiting attorneys with various language skill sets, in effort to stay ahead of the game. 

TPL:    Our favorite “mantra” which we have heard continually: greater use of contract attorneys by corporations, a trend we reported on earlier this year.  Have you also been staffing in-house legal departments? 

LPI:     We have actively staffed in-house legal departments; however, our highest percentage of revenue continues to be with the law firms. 

TPL:    E-discovery vendors have had much success the last 2 years moving into document review, a success due to the continuing move by corporations to move EDD directly in-house.  There is also the (incessant) mantra of “early case assessment early case assessment early case assessment …” which is critical, of course, to the corporate client.  Even more is the “new new thing”: early information assessment.

It’s the EDD vendors that can do this more easily, not the regular staffing agencies.  But many staffing agencies have paired up with EDD vendors to provide A-to-Z service (for example The Dine Group and Huron Consulting, Ajilon and Fios).   Is Legal Placements partnering? 

LPI:     Yes, we recently met with two e-discovery companies who approached LPI, and we will keep an open mind for the future.  But no definite plans as of yet.

TPL:    ”The Big Enchilada” is Federal government contract work.  There is a flood of work from the FDIC, SEC, Treasury, etc. — standard financial document review and processing contracts.   There must be 10 contracts a week posted to the FBO.  Many staffing agencies are getting these contracts.  Now, Legal Placements has been doing a lot of that for awhile, yes? 

LPI:     Yes, we have had success in securing Federal Government work, and we also have a contract with the GSA as a woman-owned business.  I believe the area with the most potential for growth is the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) under The Department of Treasury.  The Treasury has their hands full by working diligently to provide stability and prevent further disruption to the financial markets and banking system, ensure mortgage availability and guard home values as well as protect the taxpayers’ interests.  We are in the process of partnering with several law firms to supply the contract attorney talent for TARP work.  We believe this will be a high growth area for LPI.

TPL:    Another growth area:  the use of contract attorneys in the area of governance, risk and compliance (GRC) markets.  This is not a “new new thing” and has been chronicled for the last year and half.  Have you been pursuing this with corporate clients? 

LPI:     Yes, we have also experienced growth in the GRC markets.  The market has experienced significant momentum as companies undertake collaboration across lines of business, and realize that something needs to be done.

TPL:   There is a lot of competition out there.  How does LPI separate itself from the pack? 

LPI:    For select projects, LPI differentiates itself by offering project completion bonuses, referral bonuses and sign-on bonuses.  Irrespective of bonuses, LPI is proud to offer stringent background checks, 24/7 service and the ability to secure and manage document review space.  I am also proud of my tenured employees, which I believe is a unique sales proposition.  The median tenure for an LPI employee is five years of service – the median tenure for an employee in the United States work force is three years, this according to the Congressional Budget Office Study 2006 of the U.S. Government.  

TPL:   So how does one go about recruiting top talent and keeping that talent productive and happy? 

LPI:    The real trick is creating a culture which sustains all employees – one that will encourage positive feedback in reference to questions like:  Does my work count?  Does my opinion matter?  Are new ideas encouraged?  Are employees treated with respect and kindness?

TPL:   Ah, whuch leads me to my last question.  Many blogs give agencies a bad rap for poor working conditions, low pay, mistreatment, lack of respect.  What is the LPI read on all this, the whole overall condition of the contract attorney market?

LPI:     I read those blogs.  It is unfortunate that a few people resort to negative blogs.  I treat our contractors with the same respect I treat our in-house employees – we do our best to make them feel a part of the team.   But we’ll make mistakes.  No company is shielded from making errors, including mine.  

And granted, these are difficult financial times which are compounded by a paradigm shift in the legal industry.  Our pay rates are extremely competitive with what the market will bear.  But remember: sometimes a law firm will be hamstrung by what their client will pay.  Clients have become more and more savvy in the costs associated with e-discovery and document review.  I have seen situations where the corporate client says “we will max out at this amount.  Make it happen”. 

So contract attorneys still need to put their nose to the grindstone and do the very best job possible.  In this market, if they don’t, an employer can find 10 others who will.  It is just the nature of a very competitive economy.

TPL:   Lori, thanks for the time.

LPI:     My pleasure.  And my thanks to The Posse List for the job posts but more importantly for providing the education/background venue it does to professionalize this market.