Legal services provider Lawyers on Demand has announced plans to open a Manchester office, its first outside London.

The service, started by international firm Berwin Leighton Paisner in 2007 and now operating as a separate company with a turnover of £9m, will offer in-house legal teams across the north-west alternative ways of resourcing legal work.

The Manchester expansion will begin as a pilot and from autumn will offer access to freelance lawyers on secondmemt. 

Recruitment has already started to add to the current roster of 200 lawyers, with additional staff also wanted to expand the remote working service LOD On Call.

LOD says its clients include Google, BBC and Barclays as well as international law firms.

Co-founder Simon Harper (pictured) said: ‘Manchester is the UK’s second largest legal market and now seems poised for further growth. We have been impressed by the huge appetite for innovation here so we are delighted to bring the LOD brand back to our roots in the north-west.’

The expansion follows BLP’s announcement on its intention to open an office in Manchester this summer, and the pilot will be run from BLP’s office in the city.

During the 2012/13 financial year, BLP sold its legal resourcing business to Lawyers on Demand Ltd, a company in which BLP indirectly retains a 70% interest in the share capital and 80% of voting rights.