Articles From the Team

On the up - in-house interim recruitment

The use of interim lawyers by organisations is on the increase. Traditionally, interim in-house lawyers have been used to cover maternity leave and sickness. However, during the recent global financial crisis we witnessed an increase in the use of interim lawyers in-house and this trend has continued.

More recently we have seen the in-house interim market significantly pick up. There are a number of reasons for the use of interim lawyers – spikes in work/specific project, rapid growth, new locations being trialled, testing the need in a business for an additional lawyer and support whilst permanent recruitment is ongoing (http://www.legalweek.com/legal-week/analysis/2324183/steadying-the-ship-what-has-driven-the-rise-in-demand-for-interim-gcs). Organisations are now, more than ever, receptive to the use of flexible legal resource. Sometimes this flexible resource is provided by secondees from panel firms. However, over the past 6 months we have witnessed more opportunities arising for interim lawyers due to the difficulty our clients are having in obtaining secondees at competitive rates.

This is great news for lawyers who are available for interim assignments - individuals who enjoy the flexibility and challenges interim work offers or those who find themselves available following redundancy or relocation, and take on interim work whilst looking for a permanent role.