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Work Opportunities
SCOMO IS EXPANDING
Would you be interested in joining us?
Scott-Moncrieff, Harbour & Sinclair, otherwise known as Scomo, is an innovative practice that allows experienced lawyers to focus on being lawyers, rather than managers, administrators or wage slaves ....
For many years we were an entirely legal aid practice, and have continued to flourish as such during the recent difficult times. Lately we have expanded into privately paid work, with our Personal Injury Department, and are keen to continue increasing our areas of work yet further. We have shown that the system that we devised to make legal aid an attractive option in grim financial conditions will work equally well in other circumstances, and particularly suits motivated people who want to be free to organize their working lives to suit themselves.
Our system is based on our fee earners being self employed consultants. They work from home, or have their own offices, they are free to take on as much or as little work as they wish, and they are free to do any other work, including working for our competitors, as long as the conflict rules are not breached.
We have our own computerised case management system, a secure intranet, an on-line forum and digital dictation, to ensure that distance does not impede communication, effectiveness or camaraderie, and to allow people to practice from anywhere in the country without difficulty. Post is scanned to fee-earners daily, so that the complete file can be held electronically, and video conferencing is next on our list.
Are you bumping your head on a glass ceiling?
We treat all our consultants equally. You would keep 70% of your profit costs, and in addition would be paid by the firm on an hourly basis if you chose to undertake supervision or management tasks. All consultants have full and equal access to all our services.
We have a clear non-discrimination policy which is applied consistently. We do not distinguish (we have no way of distinguishing) between full timers and part-timers.
Are you a sole practitioner exhausted with demands of regulation?
Our consultants are covered by our professional indemnity insurance, and we have systems in place to ensure compliance with data protection, money laundering, the Code of Conduct and other regulatory requirements. Lucy Scott-Moncrieff is a Law Society Council member, and makes sure that everyone is kept informed of imminent changes affecting the profession.
We deal on our consultants' behalf with the SRA, the LCS and the LSC and we handle complaints. We can help consultants with secretarial and costing services. You have to sort out your own tax.
Are you longing to return to work if only you could do so on your own terms?
You can work whenever you like, fitting in your work around your other responsibilities and interests. However when you need cover, in an emergency, or because of a clash of dates, there will always be other people around willing to help. We have supervisors in all our categories of law, who do regular file reviews, and supervisors are always available to discuss problems.
Are you a member of a legal aid team that is having a terrible time?
Legal aid is badly paid, but if you keep 70% of the fees that is probably better than you are getting now. As a self employed practitioner, you can manage a very demanding workload in the way that suits you. We don't have any concept of billable hours targets, but whatever our consultants do, we try and help them do it efficiently and easily. We are keen to prove that it is possible to be happy and profitable doing high quality legal aid work.
Are you worried about the prospect of redundancy?
It might seem counter-intuitive to jump before you are pushed, but is it? You will be taking the initiative, feeling full of get up and go having got up and gone, and will be busy exploiting your contacts and setting up your practice (with our help) while your ex-colleagues are waiting for the axe to fall. And an economic upheaval is a good time to offer something new as potential clients reassess their existing commitments.
The Downside
We cannot guarantee you work (although everyone seems to be busy enough). You do not have any employment rights (but you can get sickness insurance and you would be a Schedule D tax payer so your business expenses are tax-deductible). There are no office politics (or is this an upside?) There is no hierarchy to ascend. However we are happy to take on consultants who already have or who would want to employ their own staff as long as they do your work to our standards. If you do not like taking responsibility for your own working life then you would probably not be happy here.
Our Requirements
We have established with HM Revenue and Customs that self employed consultants have to be able to work without day to day supervision. It follows that consultants have to be experienced and expert, and anyone joining the firm will be tested first to establish that they meet these criteria.
We can only take on consultants to do legal aid work within our existing legal aid categories; Mental Health, Prison Law, Family, Public Law, CCRC and Criminal Appeals. We would love to expand into different areas, but cannot do so until the next LSC tender. If you work in a different category but think you might like to join us if the opportunity arose, please contact us and we will keep in touch.
In non-legal aid work, we are interested in all areas, and have established a system to ensure that individuals setting up in a new category of law have proper supervision and support which we buy in. Someone setting up in a new category needs to be clear how they will obtain work. We are particularly keen to expand our family law department to cover the whole range of family law issues set up an Employment Law Department.
What to do next
If you are interested and would like to know more then do get in touch via the Contact Us page.
Other work opportunities
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