Allen & Overy is the latest law firm to launch of an alumni flexible working initiative to engage former lawyers when demand is high. The law firm will initially recruit former A&O lawyers on a contract basis through Peerpoint, which will be run by former head of business improvement Ben Williams.  However, it will extend the service to include lawyers from other firms if there is demand.  Global managing partner Wim Dejonghe  said of the move: ‘The traditional law firm model is under pressure and lacks flexibility. In a low growth environment, peaks in client demand are far more variable, so we need greater flexibility in our model.’ He added that the firm also wanted to provide an alternative career path for good lawyers who wanted to work with top tier clients ‘without the added demands of working in a large law firm. ‘

The firm said that once Peerpoint reached critical mass over the next year,  it would also start to offer clients direct access to high calibre lawyers for temporary placements for specific projects which their clients had expressed interest in. 

Peerpoint is initially looking to recruit around 20 to 30 self-employed lawyers in London and will roll this out to other offices internationally. Other law firms have gone down this route, including BLP, Freshfields and Pinsents.