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Press Release - 4th January 2005
LAWYERS DIRECT CREATES NEW DIVISION TO SUPPORT LAW FIRMS AND IN-HOUSE LEGAL DEPARTMENTS.
Lawyers Direct, the country's largest virtual law firm, today launched a new division expected to change the way the legal profession deals with short-term gaps in expertise. CLD is the first company in the UK to offer consultant lawyers to law firms and legal departments for specific transactions where the minimum time commitment is just one hour.
James Knight, Managing Director of CLD, says: "At the current time law firms lacking the expertise to complete client instructions must either turn those instructions away or bring in another law firm to undertake certain elements of the work. However, CLD enables a law firm to use consultant lawyers with experience in a wide variety of commercial fields including niche areas such as tax. What's more the cost of that consultant lawyer can be billed directly to the client with a mark-up.
Similarly, if the legal department of a company needs additional support at very short notice it may prefer to use an appropriate consultant lawyer rather than instructing its regular law firm. A consultant lawyer can become part of its legal team within a few hours and the department will see a significant cost saving by using CLD.
CLD will be a tremendous resource for our clients and in many cases it will give them a competitive advantage. Our consultants have the best experience at the highest level and we are proud to demonstrate this by using Lawyer Profiles.
Consultants maintain practising certificates and all work is insured under a Law Society approved policy, so it would be true to say that our service is a world away from locum.
" CLD commences operations in London with 37 ex-city solicitors specialising almost exclusively in the non-contentious corporate and commercial field. Consultants can work on-site or from their own home office or a combination of the two. Operations are initially focused in London. James Knight continues: "Market forces have brought about this new development. Over the previous two year, Lawyers Direct has received over a thousand applications from solicitors wanting to work in a flexible manner. With the quality that we can offer our clients, establishing CLD was an obvious step."
Nick Plowman who has joined CLD from the Corporate Department of Slaughter and May adds: "I am looking forward to the variety and flexibility that comes from working on different projects with different teams. It means that I can still use my legal skills at a high level, but I can also pursue other interests from time to time."
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