Leading London firms in talks to bring in teams of contract lawyers.
Several leading London law firms are considering using contract lawyers as part of a new business venture intended to create a vetted pool of temporary lawyers to support major practices.

Firms including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Travers Smith, and a number of U.S. firms active in London are interested in bringing in contract lawyers for individual pieces of work—a model rarely used in the United Kingdom but well-established in the United States.

John Cullen has held conversations with the firms above, as well as a number of firms in the U.K. top 50, about the service "itsmylaw," which will formally launch in the new year. He has pulled together a pool of some 25 lawyers, including former general counsel and partners as well as more junior lawyers, who can be hired for particular deals or cases.

The unusual venture echoes the established U.S. practice of regularly using contract lawyers on mandates for specific jobs. The venture has also been compared to a virtual law firm, though the focus is on supplying private practice, not clients.

While using contract lawyers has never taken off in the U.K., London partners suggest that there is more interest in the idea now as a result of current tough market conditions. "We have become very busy and stretched but are cautious about going back into the recruitment market unless and until we feel the uptick has real legs," says Travers managing partner Chris Carroll. "As such, the ‘itsmylaw’ concept presents interesting possibilities for plugging the hole."

Freshfields London managing partner Tim Jones says, "We are looking at alternative ways to deliver some routine legal tasks, as well as the outsourcing of document reviews, and are actively working with clients to test tailored solutions that deliver an effective and cost-efficient service."

Recruiter Cullen adds, "Firms are anxious to avoid increasing fixed costs, and if there is an option involving high-caliber individuals on a one-off cost, it is a sensible alternative."

In a related move, Allen & Overy is considering creating a central pool of alumni to draw on to assist on its work for specific projects. It is already using alumni to help with work such as producing first drafts of banking documents on an ad hoc basis but is considering formalizing and extending the process.

The interest in flexible legal staffing comes against a backdrop of client pressure to increase efficiency. —Claire Ruckin

ItsMyLaw will be officially Launching in January 2010 having been operating in a stealth mode for a while.  We are looking forward to helping both the Lawyers and the Firms in the coming year as we all work hard to ensure that next year is successful for all.

However we are starting to see an uptake in the market for the elite lawyers on contract to firms where they are do not have the specific staff they need.  This is starting to provide a strong validation of the business model that is being rolled out. 

In addition to the roles being filled, ItsMyLaw is also delivering career consultancy services to those firms still laying staff off.  The Coaching team has extensive Legal Market experience and specific experience in helping talented Lawyers discover the opportunities that are available in the market at this time.

The quality of the lawyers, a critical factor in this undertaking is something that ItsMyLaw is taking seriously, since as Alex Novarese points out

..success or failure largely hinges on the quality control of the retained lawyers.

To find out how we are managing this challenge contact John Cullen on 020 3012 0000.

Travers managing partner Chris Carroll said: "We have become very busy and stretched but are cautious about going back into the recruitment market unless and until we feel the uptick has real legs. As such the ‘ItsMyLaw’ concept presents interesting possibilities for plugging the hole."

ItsMyLaw is also looking to work with a number of the top city firms to help them staff up with alumni to help assist with specific projects or other work.  More on this story can be found here.

In comparison hourly rates for Associates have remained comparatively static with newly-qualified averaging £250 per hour and Associates with 5 years PQE around £375 per hour in the ‘magic circle’ and £250 outside.

Given this dynamic, the continued emergence of alternative billing methods in particular fixed fees and the increasing pressure on bottom line profitability at the firms there will necessarily be an effect on the way in which firms staff their transactions. Furthermore the law firm leverage pyramid is a product of the hourly rate and so if this trend continues it may even possibly effect they way in which they structure themselves in the future. The need to maintain profitability whilst keeping overheads to a minimum is critical to any given firm’s future well-being and has led many of them to investigate staffing alternatives such as ItsMyLaw. 

Even more surprisingly, of the 500 fee-earners surveyed  48% thought that this ambition was achievable with their current firm compared with 40% in 2008.

Whilst it is widely accepted that the route to partnership is becoming tougher and tougher, particularly in the light of recent economic events, there is clearly a sense of renewed optimism amongst younger fee-earners.

Partnership is evidently still the logical career goal for the majority of professionals but as the opportunities to achieve this ambition continue to reduce lawyers will have to seek alternative career paths and goals

At Camerons, all lawyers apart from Partners will take a six week break with four weeks on 30% pay and two weeks unpaid. The scheme will be staggered so that there are assistants working in the department throughout the period.

The Travers scheme meanwhile is voluntary with staff being allowed to take up to two months on 20 % salary thus far 14 members of staff, of which not all are lawyers, have taken the offer.

Whilst these type of schemes are by no means commonplace it is worth noting that Norton Rose introduced a flexible working scheme in April across a number of groups and Hammonds has introduced enforced two month sabbaticals for corporate associates.

With overheads in mind therefore the firms are clearly looking at their fixed costs primarily their wages bills and how they can structure themselves to maintain the level of service to their clients whilst retaining their profitability.

One possible outcome will be the increasing use of contract resources at all levels by the firms on any given deal, this has certainly been borne out by the increasing interest ItsMyLaw has had for its services.

They go on to say that

Just 50 per cent of employees had agreed to the scheme a week before the deadline on Friday 29 May.  But after a concerted push by partners, and warnings that further redundancies might be necessary, that figure rose to more than 90 per cent with one day of voting to go.

There has been a shift to the idea of bringing in staff to cover work that needs to be completed, without resorting to new hires. ItsMyLaw has seen an upswing in the demand for lawyers working on specific contracts to provide the resources that are needed with out the firm incuring the cost of hiring new staff.