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A contract attorney is a lawyer who works on legal cases on a contract basis. Contract attorneys are rarely found outside of large metropolitan areas and are mainly concentrated in Washington, DC, New York, and Philadelphia. Their work is of a contingent work nature.

Although the work of contract attorneys may vary, the job often entails the reviewing of documents in response to a subpoena or in accordance with an investigation. When a subpoena is received by a defendant/respondent, or an investigation is initiated, there are often millions of pages of documents to be categorized and produced. These documents must also be evaluated for any privileged status, including attorney-client privilege and attorney work product. The contract attorney will be hired on a contract basis to evaluate these materials. Each document must be thoroughly reviewed, making this very time consuming work.

Contract attorneys also perform legal research and draft legal briefs.

Some people who hold juris doctor degrees, but who are awaiting bar admission, work as temporary professionals in law firms doing the same type of work as contract attorneys.

Contract attorneys are rarely hired as full-time, law firm employees and normally work for temporary employment agencies. As such, once a case ends, contract attorneys are usually discharged and assigned to other projects. Due to the contingent nature of their work, contract attorneys enjoy flexible work schedules which allow them to pursue entrepreneurial and creative endeavors, often as business owners, sole practitioners, writers, and advocates.

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