Putting aside the rivalries that result in little collaboration or innovation within the legal market, DLA Piper has struck a highly unusual deal to provide contract services to its clients via Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP)-owned Lawyers On Demand (LOD).
The move sees DLA team up with LOD to create and manage a contract lawyer business. DLA alumni will be the catalyst for the launch, with around 50 lawyers expected to join LOD by the end of 2016 to service the global law firm when it requires extra resources. LOD’s current pool of 400 lawyers will also be available to DLA.
The deal saw DLA abort plans to launch its own contract lawyer arm, marking a new approach to flexible lawyering, with other firms preferring to build their own divisions to date. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer launched its alumni service Freshfields Continuum in the summer of 2012, with Allen & Overy and Pinsent Masons following in 2013 with the creation of Peerpoint and Vario respectively.
‘This deal doesn’t mean we will reduce the workforce but it changes the mix of labour as we grow.’
Simon Levine, DLA Piper
DLA global co-chief executive Simon Levine said that BLP’s ownership of LOD ‘didn’t bother us at all and isn’t a concern’.
He argued: ‘We essentially had two options, one being to build something ourselves but then you either don’t do it properly or it will take you years to get it right. The alternative was to partner with someone who would give us a DLA Piper product tailored to the type of service we want to provide our clients. The deal allows us to work in a way that is good for our clients and for our workforce and enables DLA Piper to achieve a level of profitability that we need in order to continue to compete in the marketplace. This deal doesn’t mean we will reduce the workforce – these lawyers won’t replace our lawyers, but it changes the mix of labour as we grow.’
The deal will also see LOD expand outside of the UK for the first time, as it supports DLA’s flexible lawyering service across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The venture has already started rolling out across the UK, with DLA alumni overseas likely to join LOD with the promise of flexible work in early 2016.
Jonathan Brenner, co-founder of LOD, said he is ‘hoping the deal is going to transform the way we work with clients’ and predicted more tie-ups in the flexible lawyering space. ‘Many law firms have tried it and don’t have the infrastructure to run it but clients want solutions now, not in eight years’ time.’
Levine concluded that DLA has many lawyers that do not want partnership and have reasons for flexible working. ‘Frankly, we don’t want to lose that workforce. We spend huge amounts of money on people from when they join us from law school. The idea that you would then lose them to other organisations, when they want to stay but just work in a different way, is criminal.’
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk