Law firms find that locum lawyers provide invaluable short-term support. What’s more, the freelance market offers attractive lifestyle and career choices, reports Nicola Laver

With the holiday season in full swing, for many members of the legal profession, the summer means packing their bags and making their cheery way to Tuscany, Provence and other more exotic locations. But just because the lawyers have jetted off, their work-load is not going anywhere, and firms are increasingly turning to locum lawyers to keep the cogs turning on the billable hours machine.


The locum market is booming, with many senior solicitors leaving employment to become temporary lawyers. They provide an experienced pool of quality solicitors at short notice to cover periods of holiday.


Antonia Rumbelow, a director at the Law Absolute agency, which places temporary solicitors, says firms are waking up to the benefits of locum lawyers. She cites one firm that would not have taken any locums on five years ago, which currently has three.


It is the small to medium-sized firms that really feel the pinch when one partner goes on a long summer holiday, a sabbatical or maternity leave, she says. Locums are frequently used in residential property, family and private client work, where it can be difficult to recruit. There is also a shortage of good company/commercial lawyers of between two and four years’ post-qualification experience, and locums are frequently being used to fill the gap – some 50% of whom eventually get placed permanently.


But it seems the major City firms have missed a trick when it comes to making use of locum lawyers. Ms Rumbelow says: ‘Big firms don’t always recognise the quality of locums. We have a lot of ex-City partners who want more flexibility in the way they work. They work six months of the year and go to their holiday home in the south of France for the rest of the year.’


She says some former City partners are interim locums, between permanent jobs, while others are professional locums who would never consider a permanent position.


Alice Gotto, director at recruitment consultancy Strategic Legal Solutions, provides another explanation for the lack of temporary lawyers at big City firms: ‘I believe this stems primarily from their ability to move resources around to cater for gaps, but may also be partly because – in our experience – they often have human resources (HR) departments which are very powerful and resistant to change, so even though partners may think it’s a great idea, it never gets past HR.’


London firm Fox Williams has invested significantly in locums. Partner Philippa Aldrich says: ‘There has always been concern about quality, continuity and client care when it comes to using locums. But a well-defined recruitment process and proper day-to-day management can easily overcome these issues.’


Head of dispute resolution Tom Custance adds: ‘We try to recruit a certain type of lawyer – someone who is not only technically excellent, but has a real flair for business development. By using locums, we can spot talented lawyers and offer them permanent positions, if they fit with the firm’s ethos and style of doing business. For example, one of our young litigation partners, who is originally from New Zealand, joined the firm as a locum. He proved to be extremely successful and was invited to join the partnership more than a year ago.’


Specialist consultant solicitors are a different breed to locums, boasting many years’ City experience, in a niche area. Internet company consultantlawyers.co.uk was recently launched to help law firms deal with short-term gaps in expertise by providing experienced ex-City lawyers.


Founder and managing director James Knight explains: ‘Consultant solicitors are highly experienced lawyers who often specialise in niche areas such as tax and competition law.’ He currently has 37 consultant solicitors on his books and is seeing a massive increase in lawyers wanting to work as consultants.


Good consultant solicitors are not cheap at an hourly rate of around £150, but he claims they are a ‘premium brand’, with a law firm likely to be able to charge every hour to the client at a profit. He says many of his consultants are attracted to that way of working by a desire to avoid office politics, billing targets and commuting.


Ex-Nabarro Nathanson solicitor Nigel Stanford is a consultant lawyer with specialist corporate knowledge. He says: ‘I am allowing the firms in question to keep hold of work for clients that they would otherwise have to turn away, because of a lack of expertise.’ He became a freelance lawyer after leaving an in-house job as global legal counsel and taking on a large property development project – and found the lifestyle ‘immeasurably better’. He works from home, but travels to the law firm’s office for client meetings.


He says: ‘I waste no time in commuting. I’m not required to do any significant travel for work –which given that I spent five years doing a lot of travelling is a real bonus – or any unnecessary administrative work. I see much more of my 15-month-old daughter than I would have in my old job. My wife also works from home, so I can support her with child-care when she needs to work. As to remuneration, I think that now I am effectively a full-time consultant lawyer, I will end up making as much, if not more, than I used to earn as an in-house counsel.’


The flexibility was a major attraction to Rachel Barber, who turned freelance after moving away from her previous job to get married. She says: ‘The chance to freelance came up and I grabbed it – it suits perfectly a desire for flexibility and is a great route to assimilating into the City.’ She is currently working at Salans.


She adds: ‘It’s not difficult to fit into an existing team. It’s easier if you are perceptive about the people and the office dynamics. The most important thing is to be positive and committed to whatever role you are brought in to do.’


Salans partner Smeetesh Kakkad says: ‘As a result of dealing with several large-scale, complex disputes, we needed an experienced solicitor to come in and assist urgently, who would be able to hit the ground running. The locum we employed has done just that and provided invaluable support, as well as being very willing, flexible and fitting in well with our existing team.’


Having greater control over their career is a major draw for some freelance solicitors. One freelance lawyer, who preferred not to be named, with dual Canadian and English qualifications, left the employ of a magic circle firm to work freelance on a large transaction at a US firm in London. She says she felt stifled by the employed environment she had been working in and adds: ‘Being freelance allows me to do eight or nine months a year and then have three months to go travelling. You have control of your career – with employment you have no say in what deal you’re working on and your career is in their hands.’


Ms Gotto says the number of lawyers choosing to work as temporary solicitors is on the rise. She explains: ‘I think it’s another illustration of the increasing importance people are putting on work/life balance – though that is a phrase that is over-used. The long-hours culture in law firms combined with the increasing length of the partnership track is putting a lot of junior and mid-level lawyers off the whole idea of working permanently within private practice.’


Where there was once the perception that locum work came with little security or prospects, successful locums can quickly establish good connections and build up a good reputation and repeat bookings, she says.


Ms Rumbelow predicts: ‘More and more locums will be taken up as people are needed, because firms will not be able to afford to have fee-earners sitting around twiddling their thumbs [during a quiet period]. So when the big cases come along, they will get someone in who will go when the job is done.’


Nicola Laver is a freelance journalist