The locum market is booming. Firms of all sizes are increasingly seeing the benefits of sourcing locum solicitors, and this is an ever-expanding market. Locums are a valuable asset to any firm, typically hired to cover sickness or maternity leave, to provide extra resource for transaction or litigation deadlines or sudden bursts in client activity, to establish or run down a specific department, or to provide expertise in a specific discipline.


The key strength of this mutually positive relationship is flexibility for both parties. The locum approach can provide a rewarding career and exposure to different firms and workplaces, while still allowing totally flexible working hours.



Locums enjoy the ability to take the school holidays off or perhaps work for only two days a week for a given period. In most instances, locums will have total control over the work/life balance, which is often not the case in a permanent role. Likewise, firms are not obliged to commit to a certain period of time.



Most importantly, the market for good locums is recession proof. In an economic downturn, in-house, private practice and local government sectors will want to keep their fixed overheads under control, hence permanent hires may not be possible. Likewise, at the beginning of an economic upturn, initial uncertainty may mean firms do not want to commit to adding to the headcount, and a locum is the obvious solution.



The legal profession is slightly behind other sectors in taking advantage of temporary contracts; but the tide is changing and the concept evolving. Historically, there has been a reluctance to use locums, based largely on a perception that no one knows the cases as well as the normal fee-earner and potentially the candidates may be of lower quality than their permanent counterparts.



However, firms now realise that a locum candidate is usually over-qualified for the work and as such will add value immediately, often completing particular projects within shorter timescales.



Experienced locums are adept at parachuting into a role and collating the necessary information to carry out the assignment effectively.



Many firms now regularly employ teams of paralegals on a contract basis to work on large transactions, which frees expensive trainees to benefit from higher-level work. Increasingly, firms are employing a locum to fill a difficult-to-satisfy permanent vacancy, taking the view that this allows them more time to select a candidate and thus be more discerning.



They can also utilise the contract as a probationary period for the locum, who may indeed be offered the permanent role himself.



The future for contract work looks bright, with both parties benefiting. In a world in which it is becoming increasingly difficult to juggle the work/life balance, the trend can only continue to strengthen.



Georgina Crompton is a manager at Michael Page International