Five reasons to work for a flexible legal services provider

Since the pandemic, flexible work has become increasingly popular among lawyers. After working from home for two years, lawyers have new expectations for their work-life balance.

Research from Thomson Reuters shows that 63% of UK lawyers want flexible hours, up from just 22% before the pandemic. At the same time, a survey by the American Lawyer, a monthly legal magazine, found that two-thirds of lawyers desired more flexible working hours from their firms.

A significant number of lawyers are choosing to work with a flexible talent provider, which is not surprising given the benefits. Many who work with flexible legal services providers gain the benefit of better positions and hours, as well as higher salaries.

Below, we outline five benefits of working with a flexible legal services provider.

Flexible working-hours

According to Legal Cheek, a British legal news website, lawyers’ workdays have lengthened in recent years. For lawyers at top law firms, it’s not uncommon to work until 10 or even 11 p.m. on average. Without the ability to take a day or two off every now and then, the risk of burnout has increased immensely.

With a flexible legal services provider, however, it’s a different story. Here, attorneys have much more freedom and can set their own hours. This can be especially attractive to legal professionals with children who are seeking a more balanced personal life. With a flexible talent provider, our legal consultants have full control over when and how they work. Together with the client, they set their own deadlines and deliverables.

Location flexibility

Before the pandemic, in-house legal departments and law firms operated with more traditional working models. That is, there was no degree of remote working and fixed desk hours.

Some engagements do require lawyers to visit the client, but much work with flexible legal services providers is done digitally. This means that, in most cases, legal professionals can work completely location-independent as they have a wider choice of where to work. Indeed, the experiment in working from home has sparked a new trend toward working from anywhere in the legal industry, and flexible legal services providers are at the forefront of it.

Up-skilling

Learning should be part of your daily work, even in the legal field. If there is no longer an opportunity to improve one’s skills, one should consider transferring or leaving. Especially if one feels stagnant in a traditional 9-5 office environment.

Flexible legal services providers offer lawyers multiple clients with different projects. Each project, which varies from project length to responsibility to internationality, offers the opportunity to learn something new and expand one’s skills while working with international team members.

Due to our internal matching process, the responsibilities allocated to each project have been aligned to our consultant’s preferences. This means that our consultants are in the driver’s seat in charting their own course for the type of work they would like to focus on. This could be to focus on themes they already possess a specialty in or to gain exposure to a new field or practice area.

Exposure

Flexible talent providers allow attorneys to build critical add-on skills that are vital for the modern in-house legal practice. Many legal consultants gain greater awareness of legal technology application, hone inter-departmental communication skills, and develop project management capabilities that would simply not be afforded in the traditional legal career track. Flexible legal services providers can help attorneys reorient themselves and gain the skills necessary to grow as the practice of law changes.

Inclusion

Diversity is important. As in-house legal departments look for different opinions, ideas, and cultures, they strive to include more attorneys with diverse backgrounds. In their search for top talent, corporate legal departments typically turn to flexible legal services providers.

To bring about meaningful and lasting change in the legal industry, flexible legal services providers commit to equal employment opportunities. This means they welcome applications from diverse perspectives.

Getting started

If you are ready to work for a flexible legal services provider, Interim Legal can help. Some of the world’s leading in-house legal departments trust us to build capacity, incorporate new capabilities, and implement regulatory and commercial projects. Visit Interim Legal’s career page today to get started.