AG Integrate, the contract lawyer arm of Addleshaw Goddard is expanding into the North West & Yorkshire legal markets with a drive to add more freelance lawyers to its ever-growing talent pool.

As the contract lawyer market continues to boom, the firm is taking a departure from the approach taken by most contract lawyer services, with a move to increase its headcount out of the City.

Greg Bott, Head of AG Integrate, stated: "Our longstanding commitment to the North has given us a different perspective. Traditionally demand has always been seen in the south east, but with large corporates, banks and leading PLC's continuing to be based outside of London, we are seeing an increase from clients in these regions wanting more flexible legal resource for discrete projects or to deliver additional expertise for a defined period of time."

Chris Aujard, General Counsel, Consumer Services at the Co-Op agreed; stating: "It’s a perfect match between clients’ needs and lawyers’ changing approach to work. We want the flexibility to add skills to our team as and when they’re needed and AG integrate has a pool of experienced lawyers who are looking to work in a different way. They provide us with professionals who fit-in easily and add value quickly."

With plans to grow its talent pool to over 100 by the end of 2016, AG Integrate is actively looking for lawyers who want to work on a contract basis, either from client's premises, at home or at AG's offices.

Launched in September 2015, AG Integrate, which has already exceeded its first year targets, provides high quality, temporary resource to meet the needs of the firm and its clients with a focus on providing high quality assignments. Greg continued: "We believe contract lawyering is the future and we can only see it accelerating as this way of working becomes more established across the UK."