Locum Solicitor, Consultant Solicitor or SRA Freelance Solicitor: What Is the Difference?

Locum solicitor, consultant solicitor and freelance solicitor are often used as if they mean the same thing. They are most certainly not. All three can involve flexible or self-employed legal work, but the underlying arrangements are quite different. The important questions are who instructs the solicitor, who is responsible for the client, whose regulatory structure they work within and who provides professional indemnity insurance.

Here is what you need to know, without requiring a dictionary or an afternoon to work it out.

What Is a Locum Solicitor?

A locum solicitor provides temporary legal support to a law firm, business or in-house legal department. Assignments can last for a few days, several months or continue on an ongoing basis. Locums are commonly used to provide:

• Annual leave cover.
• Maternity leave cover.
• Sickness cover.
• Assistance following an unexpected resignation.
• Support during a busy period.
• Additional expertise for a particular project or caseload.
• Cover while a permanent solicitor is recruited.

The locum usually joins the organisation’s existing team and works within its systems, procedures and management structure. In a solicitors’ firm, the clients generally remain clients of the firm. The locum works on the firm’s files rather than building a separate legal practice or accepting instructions directly from the public. An in-house locum lawyer works in a similar way but provides temporary support to a company, charity, public body or other organisation. Their client is normally the organisation itself.

How Are Locum Solicitors Paid?

Most of the locum solicitors working through Interim Lawyers operate on a self-employed basis and charge an hourly or daily rate. Other assignments may be arranged through PAYE, a fixed-term employment contract or an umbrella company (we would rather avoid the latter at all times as they tend to be a nightmare for all concerned!).

The label attached to the arrangement does not decide its tax or employment status. That depends on how the arrangement works in practice, including the level of control, working pattern, right of substitution and other relevant factors. In other words, calling someone self-employed does not automatically make them self-employed.

Who Provides Professional Indemnity Insurance for a Locum?

Where a locum is working as an employee or agent of an SRA-regulated firm, the firm’s professional indemnity insurance may cover the work. The SRA states that a firm’s insurance will cover employees and agents provided those agents are not required to maintain their own insurance under regulatory or professional rules. However, insurance should never be assumed.

The firm and locum should confirm the position before the assignment begins, particularly where the locum provides services through their own business or is undertaking work for more than one organisation.

What Is a Consultant Solicitor?

“Consultant solicitor” is not a separate regulatory status created by the SRA. It is a description used for several different types of working arrangement.

Most commonly, a consultant solicitor is a self-employed lawyer who works through an established SRA-regulated law firm. They may introduce their own clients, manage their own caseload and receive an agreed percentage of the fees they generate.

The law firm normally:

• Enters into the retainer with the client.
• Carries out conflict and anti-money laundering checks.
• Provides the regulatory structure.
• Bills the client.
• Receives client payments.
• Provides case-management and administrative systems.
• Maintains professional indemnity insurance.
• Handles complaints and regulatory reporting.

The consultant operates within that structure and remains subject to the firm’s policies, supervision and compliance arrangements. The SRA’s 2025 review of consultant law firms found that firms were using measures including central client onboarding, file audits, reviews by heads of department and restrictions on access to client account. A consultant arrangement is therefore not simply a solicitor borrowing a firm’s name and insurance. The host firm remains responsible for making sure the work is delivered properly.

Are Consultants Still Supervised?

Yes. Experience and seniority do not remove the need for appropriate supervision. The SRA’s current effective supervision guidance states that supervision should cover everyone delivering legal services, including partners and consultants as well as employees. The arrangements may be lighter for an experienced consultant with a strong record in their specialist area, but they must still be genuine and appropriate. The firm remains responsible for operating effective systems and controls.

Is a Consultant Solicitor the Same as a Locum?

No. A locum is generally brought in to meet a temporary staffing requirement. They work on the hiring organisation’s existing files and may have little or no responsibility for generating new business.

A consultant solicitor is more likely to have an ongoing relationship with a host law firm. They may bring their own following, develop new clients and receive a share of the fees from their work.

There can be overlap. A firm might describe a lawyer providing ongoing part-time cover as a consultant, while another might call the same person a locum.

The job title is less important than the underlying arrangement.

If a firm needs someone for three months to cover a conveyancing solicitor’s maternity leave, it is probably looking for a conveyancing locum.

If it wants a self-employed solicitor to bring their own clients and work permanently under a fee-sharing arrangement, it is probably looking for a consultant solicitor.

What Is an SRA-Regulated Freelance Solicitor?

An SRA-regulated freelance solicitor practises independently in their own name rather than through an SRA-authorised law firm. The solicitor is instructed directly by the client. The client pays the solicitor directly and the solicitor takes personal responsibility for providing the service. This is very different from a consultant working through a host law firm or a locum working temporarily within another organisation. The SRA updated its freelancer notification information in July 2026. A solicitor intending to practise independently under regulation 10.2 of the SRA Authorisation of Individuals Regulations must notify the SRA before starting.

What Conditions Apply to Freelance Solicitors?

The precise requirements depend partly on whether the solicitor provides reserved or non-reserved legal services. A freelance solicitor providing reserved legal services without setting up an authorised sole practice must satisfy several conditions. These include:

• Having practised as a solicitor for at least three years since admission.
• Being self-employed.
• Practising in their own name rather than through a trading name or limited company.
• Not employing anyone in connection with the legal services they provide.
• Being instructed directly by the client.
• Receiving fees directly from the client.
• Having a practising address in the UK.
• Maintaining adequate and appropriate professional indemnity insurance.
• Complying with restrictions on holding client money.

A freelance solicitor providing reserved legal services cannot operate through a limited company under this particular arrangement. If a limited company provides the reserved legal services, the company will normally need to be authorised as a law firm. The SRA provides a fuller explanation in its guidance for solicitors preparing to practise independently.

Can a Freelance Solicitor Hold Client Money?

Only in limited circumstances. An SRA-regulated freelance solicitor may hold money for their own unbilled costs and certain disbursements for which they are liable, provided the relevant conditions are met. They cannot generally hold other client money, such as damages, estate funds or the proceeds of a property transaction. Alternative arrangements, such as a third-party managed account, may be required. This is an important difference between a freelance solicitor and a solicitor working through an authorised law firm with a client account.

What Insurance Does a Freelance Solicitor Need?

A freelance solicitor providing reserved legal services must maintain professional indemnity insurance that is adequate and appropriate for the work undertaken. This is not necessarily the same as the qualifying insurance held by an SRA-authorised law firm under the SRA’s minimum terms and conditions. The freelance solicitor must explain the insurance position to clients. The level and scope of cover should reflect factors including the type of work, number of matters, value of transactions and potential losses.

The Differences in Plain English

A locum solicitor temporarily joins a law firm or in-house legal department to help with its work.

A consultant solicitor usually works on a longer-term, self-employed basis through an established law firm and may bring their own clients in return for a share of the fees.

An SRA-regulated freelance solicitor runs their own individual legal practice, contracts directly with clients and takes responsibility for insurance, compliance and administration.

Which Arrangement Is Best for a Law Firm?

It depends on the problem the firm is trying to solve. A locum solicitor is usually the best fit where the firm:

• Has an immediate staffing gap.
• Needs holiday, maternity or sickness cover.
• Has a backlog or sudden increase in work.
• Needs help while recruiting permanently.
• Wants an experienced lawyer to work on its existing files.
• Requires additional temporary supervision or management capacity.

A consultant solicitor may be more suitable where the firm wants to expand into a new area, attract a lawyer with an existing following or build a long-term fee-sharing relationship. Consultants can be incredibly cost-effective if you are looking to expand into a new area with a limited caseload, which will only require ad hoc work.

An SRA-regulated freelance solicitor is an independent provider. They are not normally a replacement member of the firm’s team because they contract directly with their own clients.

Which Arrangement Is Best for a Solicitor?

Locum work may suit a solicitor who wants variety, flexible assignments and the ability to work for different firms without having to find and retain their own clients.

Consultancy may suit someone with an established following who wants greater control over their working pattern while retaining the systems, brand and compliance support of a law firm.

Freelance practice may suit an experienced solicitor who wants to work independently and is comfortable taking responsibility for insurance, client care, complaints, administration and regulatory compliance.

None of the models is automatically better than the others. The right answer depends on the solicitor’s experience, client base, appetite for administration and preferred way of working.

Check the Arrangement, Not Just the Title

The legal sector has a habit of using several different names for broadly similar jobs and the same name for completely different arrangements. Before accepting or offering any role, establish:

• Who contracts with the client.
• Who bills the client.
• Who receives payment.
• Who provides professional indemnity insurance.
• Who is responsible for supervision.
• Whether the solicitor is an employee, worker, agent or independent business.
• Who carries out conflict and anti-money laundering checks.
• Whether the role involves reserved legal activities.
• What happens when the arrangement ends.

A clear agreement at the beginning saves an extraordinary amount of confusion later.

How Interim Lawyers Can Help

Interim Lawyers has supplied locum solicitors and interim lawyers to law firms and in-house legal departments since 2000. We work with law firms looking for short and long-term cover, businesses requiring in-house locum lawyers and solicitors interested in flexible assignments. We give clear, honest advice about what is realistically available. We do not oversell and we do not send irrelevant CVs simply to make up the numbers.

If your firm needs temporary legal cover, call us on 0800 246 5001, email jobs@interimlawyers.co.uk or register a locum assignment online.

Solicitors interested in locum work can register with Interim Lawyers here.

This article provides general information rather than legal, employment, tax, insurance or regulatory advice. The correct position will depend on the particular arrangement and the services being provided.