Legal support

Why use flexible legal support?

Flexible legal support (or flexible legal resourcing) is an increasingly popular option for businesses. A lawyer is introduced on a temporary placement to work within your team. The purpose might be to cover an absence, to increase capacity during a busy period or to implement a project requiring additional skills.

This can be an attractive alternative to employing a new permanent in-house lawyer, on one hand, or engaging a law firm on the other. The first involves long term financial commitments and a time-consuming recruitment process. The second may not be viable where there is an extensive task for one person or an identifiable role to be filled. Flexible legal support is a cost-effective middle path.

In parallel with clients’ growing willingness to use this model, highly skilled lawyers are increasingly embracing it in their career. Clients may benefit greatly from the use of top tier flexible lawyers, who bring not only technical expertise but also the commerciality that such a career demands.

Our CEO Peter Workman describes the broadening context in which this model is used and sets out its advantages for in-house legal teams in more detail, in his article More for less.

How is Source distinctive?

We saw that there is an opportunity in the UK market for a firm which is a source of high calibre, reasonably priced flexible lawyers, serving clients ranging from PLCs to SMEs and focusing predominantly (but not exclusively) on experienced candidates for senior roles.

Source is a flexible legal support business established by the streamlined, partner-only law firm Temple Bright. Like Temple Bright, Source combines the best values of leading traditional law firms with an innovative model of service provision.

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For our clients, this means:

  • Selectivity and high standards. We put forward carefully vetted and selected lawyers from the Source Panel, whose background is in leading commercial firms or in-house legal teams and whose expertise is directly relevant to your requirements.
  • Value for money and a PAYE model. We charge reasonable fees for the best people. To minimise bureaucracy and risk for you, we operate a PAYE-based model in which employed individuals are seconded to you and we manage tax and regulatory issues.
  • Personal attention from our CEO. You will be guided by our CEO Peter Workman, a practising solicitor with a Magic Circle and Big Four background. Peter’s priority is to understand your needs and propose solutions and candidates which meet them.
  • Support from a respected law firm. Source lawyers placed with you have access to Temple Bright’s resources and can (if you wish) obtain quick and confidential input in niche areas from the firm’s specialist partners, ahead of instructing the firm.
  • A streamlined full service. Through our Panel of lawyers and our collaboration with Temple Bright, we can offer you a uniquely cost-effective, high quality one-stop-shop for in-house placements, project teams, and call-off support for discrete legal tasks.
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Hybrid senior teams

High calibre flexible lawyers can be a valuable supplement to an in-house legal department. Trusted external advisers complete the picture. Source can collaborate with Temple Bright to put forward cohesive in-house/external teams, providing expertise across a broad range of practice areas. Unlike many such “hybrid” offerings, ours would involve external support exclusively from experienced partners. These partners charge at reasonable rates and work in the distinctive, client-friendly style summed up in Temple Bright’s four promises.

Source can therefore offer you the best legal support for an hour or a year, or anything between, tailored for your needs under our CEO Peter Workman’s personal guidance. Peter brings the benefit of his pragmatism, sound judgement and extensive experience of both commercial legal practice and the flexible support market. You can contact him confidentially using the form below.

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Enquire about flexible lawyers

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FAQs

What is a flexible lawyer and what characterises those at Source?

A flexible lawyer is a solicitor who has chosen to work on a “contract” basis, most commonly involving placements within in-house legal teams (but also potentially within smaller companies and professional firms). Those recruited to Source’s Panel have a background in City and leading regional law firms and may also have been employed in senior in-house roles. In most cases, but not always, they will have seven or more years’ post-qualification experience. When a candidate is proposed for any assignment, Source provides a full CV.