Linklaters has appointed Martin Laing as head of its contract lawyer offering Re:link. Laing re-joined Linklaters in 2019 to help launch Re:link, having been a managing associate at the magic circle firm between 2006 and 2009.
Re:link offers flexible resourcing solutions to Linklaters clients and is part of Linklaters wider alternative legal services offering headed by Jas Mundae. It is not a standalone business.
Laing said: “What I loved from the start was Linklaters’ belief that we can offer lawyers flexibility and choice in their careers without compromising on quality. Linklaters’ clients come to us with their most challenging and niche resourcing needs, which means we can provide our consultants with access to some of the most varied and challenging work in the market.”
Before Linklaters, Laing was senior executive officer to the managing partner at Ashurst, responsible for helping to deliver business transformation projects. He joined Re:link in 2019 as senior lawyer relationship manager, and was promoted to business development manager in 2020.
Many law firms have contract lawyer offerings, with the best known still the earliest ones such as Pinsent Masons’ Vario; Eversheds Sutherland Konexo (formerly Agile); and Allen & Overy Peerpoint. According to a report by LexisNexis in April, the pandemic has only increased the likelihood of lawyers embracing ‘the gig economy’ and choosing a more flexible way of working.