Legal consulting is a service sometimes used by attorneys that are working on large or complex cases. Lawyers are well-versed in the laws of the country in which they reside, but technical issues do not fall within their area of expertise. In these cases, they will hire a legal consultant, who is someone that can help them manage the copious paperwork involved in a large case. Legal consultants can help lawyers find expert witnesses to bolster their cases, and hiring one will help a lawyer determine which documents are key to their case.
In some cases, the documents that need to be read and organized can take up several boxes or even more. If the lawyer or their staff had to read through all of them to find the ones needed, it would take valuable time away from the case. Consultants often charge a lower hourly fee than a lawyer, and a legal consultant can look over the case's documents and organize them much faster than an attorney could. Because the job is finished faster, the client pays lower expenses, and the attorney can place his or her focus on trying the case.
When the legal consulting firm has done their job, one of their representatives can meet with the lawyer and client to review their findings. That meeting will be to evaluate the case's merits, and to work out a strategy for dealing with the trial preparation and technical details of the case. The report offered by the consultant will give the lawyer more leverage in settlement talks, and if the lawyer needs an expert witness, the consultant can help them find one. For larger cases, more than one expert witness may be needed.
Legal consultants aren't hired just by lawyers. Some consultants work with individuals to help them determine whether or not they have legal standing in a case, and they may have on-call lawyers who can act on behalf of the client or refer the individual to an attorney that specializes in their type of case.