Frequently Asked Questions

Hire an Esquire is a legal hiring platform where small and mid-sized law firms and legal departments can post positions to make hires, and where legal professionals can find work.

No, Hire an Esquire is not a law firm and does not provide any legal services, legal advice, or lawyer referral services. We do not provide legal representation.

Currently, you must have a valid United States address and TIN to find work through Hire an Esquire.

If you are a job seeker, Hire an Esquire is a completely free platform to use. If you are looking to hire contract talent, please see the Pay as You Go + Pricing section of the FAQ.

You can use MLA’s Hire an Esquire to search for contract/freelance attorneys and paralegals in over 800 areas of legal expertise for contract work and permanent hiring. You may want to use our platform to help manage overflow work, hire a subject matter expert, staff document review projects, or make court appearances.

Yes! We can assist with interim and permanent General Counsel roles. Book a meeting with us to learn more about which option is best for your company based on your business type and size.

Yes, we do have payroll services that you can opt to use to compensate your contractors. We offer both W2 and 1099 options.

No, you do not have to use the payroll services that MLA’s Hire an Esquire offers. You can opt to use your own payroll services to pay your hires.

Please see the Pay as You Go + Pricing section of the FAQ for information on costs.

You can hire a maximum of 1 person for each job. Please see the Pay as You Go + Pricing section of the FAQ for information on the cost of adding additional seats to a job.

Once you find a candidate you’d like to speak with, you can use our messaging feature to reach out to the candidate; they will be notified. From there, you can conduct an interview using our internal video platform.

Yes, you can take your hiring process off platform if desired. However, if making an offer, offers must be officially made on the platform, even if you don’t plan to use our payroll service.

You set pay rates for your hires, however, we give you a recommended competitive market rate based on the job you create. For a complete overview of contractor hourly rates, check out our hourly rate guide here.

If you are being paid through MLA’s Hire an Esquire’s payroll services, you will be paid via ACH Direct Deposit to your bank account.

If you are classified as a 1099 employee, you will fill in your direct deposit details on your account. After log in go to Settings > Direct Deposit. If you are classified as a W-2 employee, you will be reached out to by someone from our team with next steps, as we use a different platform to collect your information and pay you.

When you are hired as a 1099 employee, you will be asked to complete a W-9 form before starting work. Your direct deposit information, found in the settings of your account, must be completed and accurate.

When you are hired as a W-2 employee, you will be contacted by someone from both the Hire an Esquire and Major, Lindsay, & Africa teams. You’ll be emailed a link that will take you to an employee portal where you will complete onboarding forms, including your direct deposit information. Once completed, you will complete your I-9 and then schedule a meeting time with a Hire an Esquire employee to verify the identification documents used on the I-9 form.

Contractors are paid weekly. Payments are initiated on Wednesdays, and when the payment reaches your account will depend on your bank.

MLA’s Hire an Esquire will handle contractor tax documents. Your 1099 or W2 will be mailed to you in January.

After accepting your job position on the platform, you will see the Time Tracker displayed on your dashboard at log in. Every day you will use the time tracker to log your hours worked along with descriptions of the work done. You must have all hours logged for each week by Sunday at midnight. If for some reason you miss the cut off to log your time, you must email Support@HireanEsquire.com immediately, by EOD Monday. Any time not logged and not reported will not be paid.

For a contract or fractional job each job posting is $250. You pay up front to post the job and then you own the relationship with your hired professional. You may choose to use our payroll services or opt out.

We offer two solutions for permanent hire.

• You can try posting the job on our platform and recruiting independently from the candidates that apply. Still just $250 per job posting.
• We have a permanent search service where our recruiters will work with you to find candidates. If you hire one of our candidates we charge a fee based on the offer. Book a meeting to learn more.

You can post as many jobs as you would like, each job posting costs $250.

You can purchase Network Access for an additional $250.

Network Access gives you the ability to utilize the platform’s candidate search feature to do a deeper search for candidates to invite to apply to your position. You get more curated recommendations for your job posts, direct communication with users on the platform, and you can search our network of thousands of legal professionals by location, practice area, expertise, bar license, and more. Network Access is an additional $250.

15 recommendations per job are included with your basic job posting. Any extra recommendations are available when you purchase Network Access.

Your first hire on each job posting is included in the cost of the job posting. All additional hires after the first one are $250 per hire.

An unfilled position will remain open and active for 90 days before it is automatically closed if unfilled.

For full access to our psychometrics features such as Workstyle Assessment scores and Fit Scores, you can purchase this as an add-on for $450.

Yes! At any time, you can message recommended candidates, invited candidates, and any candidates you have previously messaged.

Yes, you have the option of using Hire an Esquire’s payroll services for any job with any plan. You are not required to use Hire an Esquire’s payroll services. For additional information on how using our payroll services works, book a demo!

How you are paid will be up to the employer. They may opt to pay you using their payroll services, or they may opt to use MLA’s Hire an Esquire payroll services. If you are not being paid through Hire an Esquire, be sure to ask for a contract and verify the details of your time tracking and payment directly with the hiring firm or company. It is your responsibility to ensure that your relationship is set up with the appropriate guardrails.

If you are being paid through Hire an Esquire, this means we take on all responsibility of handling payment and tax documents. Please see the Contractor Payments section of the FAQ for more details.

No. If the employer chooses to use their own payroll services to pay you, any and all questions and concerns must be dealt with between you and the employer.

Typically, no. Once you are hired to a position, any issues must be dealt with by your employer directly. MLA’s Hire an Esquire is solely a job board. We do not handle matters between contractors and employers. If you believe there has been misconduct on the Hire an Esquire platform, please reach out to us at Support@HireanEsquire.com.

Yes, if you intend to work on the job you have been offered. For our records and yours, all job offers must be officially accepted on the platform before starting work. Of course, if you do not wish to accept the offer because you no longer want the position, you may decline it.

There is no option to upgrade or convert accounts from one type to another. You can create a new account under the appropriate account type and reach out to us at Support@HireanEsquire.com so we can deactivate your previously existing one.

References are optional but highly encouraged to stand out among other applicants.

This is for identification purposes to keep you, your account, and your license safe. This prevents anyone from signing up, claiming to be you, and taking on legal work in your name.

Acceptable ID documents are:

• Bar Card
• Attorney Secure Pass
• Document with Registration Number
• Certificate of Good Standing
• Bar Registration Receipt with Bar ID Number
• Receipt of Payment of Bar Dues with Bar ID Number
• Screenshot of your member profile page on the bar website (*not the public search page)

We are unable to accept:

• Screenshots of the Bar website’s Public Information
• Resumes
• Driver Licenses
• State IDs
• And other similar forms of ID