Freshfields Continuum Launch

People costs are invariably the largest cost category for a law firm, and the art of maximising profitability is to maintain a delicate balance between having sufficient lawyers on the payroll to cover peak activity periods, whilst not being over-staffed in quieter times.  Nothing will hit the bottom line of a firm faster than having lawyers on six-figure salaries twiddling their thumbs.  As a consequence, in the economic downturn of the last few years, many firms have attempted (sometimes successfully) to maintain profit-per-equity-partner ratios by ruthlessly culling excess staff.  In the short term this clearly works from a financial perspective, but it will be interesting to see whether, once the war for talent heats up to previous heady levels, those firms who aggressively downsized in difficult economic times will be able to compete with those who took a longer term view.  Whatever the outcome, it seems that the bumpy road of the last few years means firms are now trying to take a more innovative approach to staffing levels, and relying less on the traditional employer/employee arrangements.

Previously in this blog, I have commented on Berwin Leighton Paisner’s Lawyers on Demand business.  Now Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has officially launched its own contract lawyer initiative (branded Freshfields Continuum), whereby the firm will draw on its 3,500-strong pool of former senior fee earners on an ad-hoc basis to provide additional temporary staffing during busy periods, for periods of up to six months at a time.   It is likely that most of the roles will be predominantly behind-the-scenes rather than key client facing or negotiation roles.

The aim appears to be to target principally Associate level alumni (presumably on the basis that to have made it to Associate level they must have earned their spurs at the firm to some degree in the past, and therefore should be capable of slotting back in quite quickly without too much hand-holding required).  However, other levels of seniority will also be considered, with pay being set at one of four bands – junior, mid-level, senior and partner.  Alumni will be permitted to apply for work on projects below their level of experience, but if they do so they would only be paid in accordance with the rate of the position advertised, and not at the rate of their own experience.   This should be a benefit to clients, who will therefore not be paying inflated rates for an over-qualified lawyer to do a relatively straightforward task.

This is believed to be the first example of a law firm attempting to commercially leverage its alumni network, other than through simply winning business from the alumni when they move on to client company positions.

The firm plans to review the scheme in six months’ time, at which point a decision will be taken over whether it should be rolled out further to include the firm’s international network.  It is difficult to know what Freshfields would consider to be success for these purposes - there is no target for the number of candidates it is aiming to sign up, but the firm’s alumni network currently stands at around 3,500 fee earners.

From Freshfields’ perspective, it is easy to see why this would be an attractive proposition.  It gives the firm maximum flexibility to tailor its human resources to match the ebb and flow of client work, without the fixed costs associated with hiring permanent employees, and without the risks of hiring contract staff who are not known to the firm and who are not familiar with the way it operates.  For a small number of Alumni, it may also be an interesting prospect, but I would not expect that there would be a flood of people signing up for the scheme.  I assume that a significant majority of the Freshfields Alumni are now happily working in other jobs that would preclude them from taking up the offer of being included in the Continuum bank of contractors.  This means that the likely candidates are those who chose to step off the conventional career treadmill.  However, I question how many of them would leap at this opportunity.  For those who need the stability of a regular income, this scheme is unlikely to be ideal and there may be other contract lawyer or flexible working arrangements (including as a Freshfields employee) which can probably provide them with a steadier stream of assignments and a greater degree of flexibility regarding working arrangements.   But it might be an attractive prospect for those who want to work in short bursts to enable them to travel, or to fit in around family arrangements, or who want to dip their toe back in to the legal market after a career break, for example, or those who simply don’t like to countenance the monotony of a full time permanent role.  I am sure there will be some who fit the bill –I just doubt it will be a large number.

But as someone who has been critical of law firms’ lack of imagination and ability to innovate, I hope that Freshfields Continuum does indeed have success with this initiative.  Anything which increases the flexibility of working options for talented individuals who might otherwise be lost to the profession, has got to be applauded.