setting up your own business while working at a firm Forum

[Anonymous User]

is it illegal to set up your own firm while working at a law firm?
what about using the law firm's westlaw services for your own business?

I strongly suspect that an ex-colleague of mine, who works as a staff attorney at a small firm, has her own business...

her linkedin page reads "(her name), Attorney at Law, (city name)" (present)
but does not mention the firm that she works with.

[06072010]

Normally the firm's employment agreement with restrict you from providing legal services for anyone other than your immediately family subject to conflicts. Using the westlaw of your firm is a great way to get fucking fired. Only a matter of time as at most firms, research charges are DIRECT billed to a client. Put too much of that shit on a non-client code, and the reaper will come.

[MeTalkPrettyOneDay]

Illegal? There's a helluva lot of ground between "illegal" and "it'll get you fired."

her linkedin page reads "(her name), attorney at law, (city name)" (present)
but does not mention the firm that she works with.

Is this the only evidence you have? This is weak sauce.

Also, why do you care?

[ggocat]

is it illegal to set up your own firm while working at a law firm?

Probably not.

what about using the law firm's westlaw services for your own business?

Theft is illegal the last time I checked.

[nealric]

Most firms have "no moonlighting" clauses in their employment agreements or firm "no moonlighting" policies. I've heard of firms firing associates for taking up paying clients outside of the firm.

Using the firm's Westlaw account would be theft. They pay a TON of money for that. When I was a summer associate, if I did a westlaw/lexis search without a client billing code, they would always send me an email to confirm it was for an appropriate pro-bono project.

[js87]

There is nothing illegal about working on the side (as long as you're not stealing supplies or westlaw services from your office), but as one poster said, I imagine most firms have a "no moonlighting" clause and you would run the risk of disciplinary action or termination.