Can I just hire and pay my attorney on my own, without using UpCounsel?

When attorneys are hired on the system and payments are processed on the system, UpCounsel can offer several assurances and guarantees to both the attorney and the client .  

If work is taken off of the site, we are unable to provide those assurances and if something were to go wrong, UpCounsel would not be in a position to provide assistance.