A new service that matches lawyers who have qualified with large firms with companies seeking temporary legal work for specific contracts or projects launched this week.

Nexus Professional Network, which has been set up by a group of current and former partners at large accountancy and law firms, finds interim placements for experienced solicitors with FTSE and other, privately owned companies.

The scheme is intended to offer flexibility to solicitors, while enabling companies to bring in legal expertise ‘without all the infrastructure and process that comes with engaging a large firm’.

Nexus non-executive director Ian Forrest, a partner at US firm Squire Sanders Hammonds, said: ‘A wide range of people, from newly-qualifieds to highly experienced, are seeking different ways to fulfil their career, income and life ambitions. We have formed Nexus to link people who want to work differently with clients looking to attract talented professionals for major roles on projects, contracts or as (interim) replacements for key members of staff.’

Solicitors will be paid an agreed fixed fee for work done.