BLP unveils in-house lawyer locum service

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) is set to pilot a locum service aimed at in-house legal teams.

BLP will be acting as a recruitment agency by providing a pool of BLP-trained temporary and part-time lawyers, who will work in-house on a contract basis for selected clients. BLP will take a percentage of their earnings.

The firm recruited Jonathan Brenner (the ‘B’ in legal recruitment agency ZMB, now Hays ZMB) as head of recruitment in September 2005, who will lead the initiative.

Brenner said: “We expect to attract great lawyers who, for personal or professional reasons, wish to work flexibly but to continue practising law at a high level.

“Often these individuals find few options in the traditional legal market despite their obvious talent. We’ve already seen a number of people who fit the description and are now actively looking for additional candidates.”

The service is being developed in response to client requests for help filling short-term vacancies or covering specific projects. It will focus initially on commercial and contract lawyers.

The firm will continue to offer client secondments.