Acumen+giving+you+the+edge

Pinsents enters contract lawyer market with on-demand business

6 February 2013 | By James Swift

  • Print
  • Comments (11)

Related Articles

Related Firms

Pinsent Masons is launching a contract lawyer service for clients in the mould of Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) offering Lawyers on Demand and Eversheds Agile.

Pinsents is planning to launch its Vario business – a hub of freelance lawyers who can be called on to help clients deal with spikes in activity or fill in gaps caused by staff absences – in the spring.

The firm is now looking for legal professionals across all levels to fill its books, and is searching its alumni network as well as in the wider market. Vario, which means variety or difference according to the firm, will offer clients lawyers with a range of experience, from paralegal to partner.

Central management partner Alison Bond is leading the Vario initiative. In a statement, she said: “Clients are increasingly asking for access to flexible resources as a prerequisite. However, we wanted to take the idea a step further and launch the next generation of this type of service.

“Our market testing with general counsel indicated that when they’re looking to plug a gap, personal attributes are as important as legal skills. They want lawyers who’ll add value quickly, get on with those around them and work with minimal supervision.

“So we’ve spent a lot of time designing a bespoke selection process which helps candidates understand whether this is right for them, as well as whether they’re right for us. We’ll actively manage assignments, staying close to clients and the lawyers themselves.”

In October 2011, Eversheds piloted a similar scheme called Eversheds Agile, which provides lawyers to in-house teams for temporary assignments (14 October 2011). Meanwhile, BLP launched its Lawyers on Demand business in 2009 (9 November 2009).

See all Related Jobs, Briefings & CPD/Events

Readers' comments (11)

  • Bilbo Baggins | 6-Feb-2013 10:58 am

    Following BLP's lead, obviously. When are Pinsents going to spin this off then?

    Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment

  • Randolph | 6-Feb-2013 10:59 am

    Where ever are they going to find out-of-work lawyers? Oh, wait....

    Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment

  • Anonymous | 6-Feb-2013 11:00 am

    Is this how the 'squeezed middle' propose to challenge the new world order? There are plenty of lawyers looking for jobs at the moment, perhaps this is the future...

    Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment

  • Ex PM Lawyer | 6-Feb-2013 11:46 am

    "is searching its alumni network as well as in the wider market."
    hehe. What alumni network? Pinsent Masons hasn't got one. In my experience which might be limited to a certain department I accept, PM have never invested in a alumni network. Look on Linkedin as a small bit of evidence on this, every firm has a alumni group on there and PM don't seem to bother. Quite a lot of the alumni are not that well disposed to the firm.
    BLP did it, BLP spun it off. Bit behind the times PM.

    Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment

  • Anonymous | 6-Feb-2013 12:00 pm

    The current ecnomic climate coupled with the demand for ever increasing PEP means the prospects of partnership is forever diminishing for aspiring lawyers.
    If you take away the big carrot of partnership, flogging yourself to generate huge profits for your boss becomes less attractive and a model which results in a reasonable wage and more work/life balance is more likely to take hold in that environment.
    Additionally, clients aren't stupid, they realise that barring big ticket jobs, the vast majority of work is carried out by individuals not teams - you don't need the size and costs of a large PP firm to get that, just access to the right people.

    Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment

  • Anonymous | 6-Feb-2013 12:43 pm

    Sign of the times - soon anyone who doesn't offer this is going to look off the pace

    Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment

  • Another Ex PM Lawyer | 6-Feb-2013 1:19 pm

    What the other ex PM lawyer said.
    I trained and spent my first 10 years PQE at PM in London and overseas. I can confirm that they do not have any form of alumni network.
    Like many others I would not want to work for PM again in any capacity. Thanks but no thanks Chris and David.

    Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment

  • Interested bystander | 7-Feb-2013 0:10 am

    So they are basically setting up an expensive Locum service rather than retaining and investing in full time staff. Doesn't sound like a quality service driven way of going about things.

    Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment

  • Anonymous | 7-Feb-2013 4:19 pm

    "spinning off" must be one of the least appealing corporatisms I have heard in a long time. Since Pinsents are apparently now just making up words ["Vario, which means variety or difference according to the firm"], perhaps no better is to be expected. They could have considered "Loco" too, that would have made more sense.

    Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment

  • Anonymous | 12-Feb-2013 1:47 pm

    Please complete the following phrase:
    "Going loco down in ..........................................................................."

    Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment

View results 10 per page | 20 per page

Have your say

Mandatory Required Fields

  • Print
  • Comments (11)

Most popular

Most commented

Most emailed