Law firms turning to temporary solicitors

The demand for temporary lawyers and paralegals has risen sharply across the profession in the past year, according to a new survey, with more than half the firms questioned saying they had used freelance solicitors.The survey by recruitment consultants Michael Page of 170 firms, in-house teams, financial services organisations and lawyers in the public sector, showed that 57% had used temporary lawyers, compared to 35% for the previous year; 41% had employed paralegals.The reasons were the increase in the quality of such staff, an increase in the use of temporary-to-permanent recruitment, the skills shortage in the permanent market, and the cost effectiveness, given the candidates' flexibility.Victoria Crane, manager of Michael Page's legal contracts division, said the current economic slowdown was effecting the demand for temporary staff.

'Many organisations are placing restrictions on their permanent headcount,' she said.'This means that certain areas, such as litigation which always thrives in a recession, are seeing a real boom in terms of their temporary staff.'The advantages of being freelance for solicitors were many, she said, such as flexibility.

'They want to earn their money and then go, and not become involved in any office politics,' she added.

Sarah Cook, human resources manager at City firm Kingsley Napley, said her firm often used temporary lawyers because of their flexibility.

'Particularly in the property department, when a big deal comes through and you suddenly need more bodies, you can lay your hands on people of a very good standard in just a couple of days.' Natalie Siabkin, chairwoman of the Freelance Solicitors Group, said the flexibility of freelancing appealed to many solicitors.

'Being freelance enables you to spend six months working and six months doing other things, such as studying or travelling,' she said, adding it was also convenient for people with child care needs.