How to Find Locum Assignments

Back in the 1990s, when I started locumming, Locums were a new breed, often regarded with suspicion and curiosity by Firms and fellow lawyers. I was asked more than once in the early days whether I was a Locum because I couldn’t hold down a ‘proper’ job.

Up until around then, Firms had tended to deal with fee earner absences internally. Paternity leave hadn’t been invented (that only came in in 2003), Maternity leave had, but it wasn’t as structured as it is today, there were nothing like as many costs and consequences for failure to comply on time with court directions and Orders as there increasingly are now, and many Firms got fee earners from other departments to keep an eye on an absent fee earners caseload using the smattering of knowledge that many of them had. In the now far off, pre-internet days which I can still remember, there was often a 2-week gap between receiving a letter, sending a copy by post to the client, taking the client’s instructions, often by appointment in the office and then replying, which also made it more viable to deal with a fee earner absence, in house.

Following the introduction of the Civil Procedure Rules and the Family Procedure Rules in 1999 and 2010 respectively, and before that, the legal Aid Franchise, which required Firms to have a formal complaints procedure in place as part of their service to clients, had been a bit hit and miss prior to that, things started to change dramatically and quickly. Locums started to gain acceptance as a necessary part of the Firm’s armoury when absences occurred, Agencies were established, essentially as outsourced arms for Law Firms, to find suitable cover when staff absences occurred for an increasing range of reasons.

Agencies still operate of course, I’ve used them myself on many occasions, but increasingly in this digital age, and the growing emergence of locums as a fully-fledged part of the legal services industry, it’s becoming much more viable and practical for Firms and Locums to communicate directly with each other. There’s the cost factor to consider as well. Agencies charge Firms a commission, sometimes a fixed rate, sometimes a percentage, based on the weekly or monthly rate paid to the Locum, which can be substantial, as hourly rates have increased and the use of locums likewise. Firms increasingly look for caseload quality over quantity. Add to that increased competition, and the rising operating costs that Firms have to take on board, it makes sense to have a dedicated website like Nomad-Legal to enable Firms and Locums to do this, post and search vacancies, upload CVs and profiles and discuss directly with each other.