Darling Hill

While it may come as a surprise to non-lawyers, most lawyers spend a good—okay, huge—amount of time writing during their work week. After drafting briefs, letters to clients, memos, responding to discovery requests, and completing billable hour entry descriptions, why would any lawyer want to freelance after leaving the office—and how could they find the time to write, anyway?

Why freelance?

1. Professional development. Writing, particularly publishing your writing, can be great for your career. It’s an opportunity to establish yourself as an expert in a field or to carve out a new practice niche—potentially translating into new clients or a new job. Freelancing provides limitless opportunities to get your name out there.

2. Writing is one of the things you do best. Freelancing can give you the opportunity to write on topics of your own choosing. Think: writing for fun.

3. You’re an idea machine. If anyone can generate story ideas, it’s you with all of those experiences upon which to draw—of course, provided you don’t compromise any privileges, confidences, or ethics. For example, remember that encounter with that vicious opposing counsel? Well, turn it into a piece on how to deal with difficult people.

4. R&R. Writing can be good for your psyche—especially when you’re fired up about a certain topic. Maybe you love protein shakes—why not share your favorite recipes with the world?

5. Extra income. If you sell your writing, you’ll wind up with “chunks” of supplemental cash. What’s not to love about being able to pay off student loans faster or having *bonus* spending money from time to time?

Want to start freelance writing? Here’s how.

1. Make time.

Lawyers (as well as non-lawyers) who want to freelance need to make time to write. Of course, that’s easier said than done. Writing is like exercise. It’s easy to put off. However, when writing time is scheduled—even 15 minutes a day—it is more likely to get done. Shortly before graduating from law school, I was stunned to learn that a classmate had just finished writing a book. How did this classmate have time to write a book during three years of law school? My classmate’s secret was that after each library study session he dedicated thirty minutes to writing. The end result: a completed manuscript (and a book deal, so I heard, hmmm…I guess that’s hearsay).

2. Research.

Hey, another thing you’re good at already. Start researching markets for your ideas. If you’ve never published anything before, you might want to initially consider small, local, or trade publications for your work. However, some writers have gone straight to the big publications with success right from the start.

3. Query.

Start sending those queries. The more you send, the more likely you’re going to get published. For motivation, check out the InkThinker 2007 Query Challenge.

Good Luck and Happy Writing!

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