Lisa Paquette Varon is a contract attorney specializing in criminal and family law. She began offering fee-per-services in July.
WHAT SERVICES DO YOU PROVIDE?
Research and writing, depositions, motions, court hearings, witness interviews and preparation, trial work and appeals. “Basically, I work for other attorneys on a freelance basis. I charge them an hourly rate and do whatever it is they need. I haven’t done any trials but I have a lot of trial experience so if they needed me to do that, I would do that. It’s not always feasible for law firms to add permanent staff to handle a temporary workload increase, so they either turn away work or overload themselves. I make it possible for them to effectively be in two places at one time.”
WHAT’S YOUR WORK BACKGROUND?
“I worked at the Public Defender’s Office for 11 years. For the past three and a half years, I was part-time. I wanted to be able to continue a flexible, part-time schedule, although I’m busier now than I was at the Public Defender’s Office.” She cut her hours to spend more time with her small children. Varon also interned at a private personal injury firm during law school.
HOW YOUNG ARE
YOUR CHILDREN?
Varon and her husband have a three-and-a-half year old son, Douglas, and a one-and-a-half year old daughter, Katie. They live in Riverside.
HOW LUCRATIVE IS CONTRACTING SERVICES?
“Money is not necessarily the big advantage. The advantage is flexibility. I think that’s why a lot of women leave [positions as attorneys] when they have children because they don’t want to work a lot of hours.”
ARE CONTRACT LAWYERS A GROWING TREND?
“It’s very new to Jacksonville. I only know of two others that do it here, sort of on their own. It’s more popular in other places. I think contracting and outsourcing is catching on in a lot of other areas. I think it makes sense for lawyers to do that because the practice of law is difficult. You’re going to have big trials that come up and then go away so you don’t necessarily need to hire a full-time staff, or even a part-time staff. But you might need a little bit of extra help. That’s where I step in.”
BECAUSE YOU ARE HANDLING ANOTHER ATTORNEY’S CASE, ARE THERE TASKS YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH?
“No. Since I have a Bar card, I can handle anything really that they can handle. I don’t feel comfortable doing everything sometimes because I don’t feel as knowledgeable about the case. But I don’t think there’s anything I would be prohibited from doing.”
WHAT ABOUT OTHER AREAS OF PRACTICE?
“I could research anything in any area of law so I wouldn’t shy away from that [fields outside her specialty]. But as far as going into court or attending hearings, I wouldn’t feel as comfortable doing that. Because I worked at the Public Defender’s Office for so long, I certainly have the comfort zone of being able to go into court. A lot of what I learned at the Public Defender’s Office applies to other areas of the law.”
IF YOU WERE ASKED TO HANDLE A TRIAL FOR A CASE OUTSIDE YOUR EXPERTISE, WOULD YOU DO IT?
“Sure. In any situation, I would want to talk to the attorney and make sure they understand where my specialities lie, what my background is and where my knowledge is. If they were willing to sit down with me and get me up to speed, I think I could handle anything.”
EDUCATION
Florida State University.
WHY GO INTO LAW?
“It was just something I always wanted to do and thought about doing. I really like helping people. That was the part I really enjoyed at the Public Defender’s Office. You feel like you can make a difference for somebody. And I think that the courtroom is exciting. There’s a lot of energy. You’re really forced in a courtroom situation to think on your feet, to perform.”
WHAT’S MOST CHALLENGING?
“Trials and court hearings for the same reason. You are really forced to think on your feet and you never really know what’s going to happen. You’ve got to be mentally prepared when you go into a hearing to handle anything that comes your way. You don’t have time to sit and research and figure out what you’re going to do. You have to be ready.”
WHO ARE YOUR CLIENTS?
“They’re all small firms, solo or with one or two lawyers. Big firms have the manpower to cover for each other.”
WHAT PROFESSIONAL GROUPS is she
MEMBER OF?
Varon is a member of The Jacksonville Bar Association, the Jacksonville Women Lawyers Association and the Florida Association of Criminal Defense.
WHAT’S YOUR GOAL?
“I am really interested in getting into mediation. I recently took a Florida mediation training course. I think it would be something I would enjoy.”
ANY BRUSHES WITH FAME?
“I met actor Keanu Reeves when he was here preparing for his role in ‘Devil’s Advocate.’ He was watching Curry Pajcic prosecute a trial.”
WHAT DO YOU DO
FOR FUN?
“I’m in a book club. I also like running and yoga. I’m training to do a 6K on Thanksgiving.”
— by Monica Chamness