If you are thinking about becoming a locum lawyer and wondering how your business finances would work, speak to an expert like Gorilla Accounting to find out more. We have specialist accountants for legal contractors ready to help you.
It is important to consider all your options before making the final decision to work as a legal locum, but there are some excellent accounting services for locum lawyers so do not let that put you off.
There are several major reasons why people decide to work as a legal locum, which can far outweigh the reasons for being an employed lawyer or solicitor. Some of the main reasons why people decide to work as a legal locum include:
Work-life balance
The legal profession is one of those sectors where the demands on the individuals and employees of businesses can be very high. There are several well-paid industries such as medicine, law and other sectors where you could be required to work longer hours to carry out your job.
Some people decide to work on a contract or locum basis rather than being a full-time employee, which gives them more flexibility and control over the number of hours they work. One of the benefits of this is being able to manage your own time and finances using a specialist accountant for lawyers.
Financial benefits and incentives
One of the biggest reasons for becoming qualified as a legal professional or lawyer in the first place for people is the fact that this is a well-paid industry, which is more apparent within senior roles. Generally, people with more than several year’s experience within a large firm or city-based firm will be able to demand higher levels of hourly pay than most which can work well as a locum worker.
When choosing to work with a specialist accountant, you should ensure that your chosen provider offers all aspects of financial support and accountancy based services, including:
- Year-end accounts
- Corporation Tax calculations
- IR35
- Management accounts
- Payroll
- Expenses
Your chosen specialist should be able to guide you through all aspects of accounts to ensure that you get the most from your business income.
Internal training costs and requirementsÂ
One of the most important elements of continuing to work in the legal sector is to ensure that you keep your own personal development up to date whilst in employment. Most legal roles as an employee would involve some levels of ongoing training as well as continuous professional development which can be costly for any employer.
As a locum, the costs to an employer are sometimes lower than employing an individual on a full or part-time basis. One of the benefits of having your own small or contractor business is the ability to work in your own professional development.
More diversity and variety of work types/locations
One of the other major advantages of being a contractor in any industry is the flexibility you have around where you work and with which company. You will have the ability to pick and choose your own roles within your chosen locations, which can be wherever you decide that you want to base yourself. One of the major factors is that you will be able to claim expenses for travel and accommodation in some cases.
If you are looking for more diversity by working with various firms in a variety of roles then you should consider working as a locum which will help to build your experience in a variety of sector areas.
Experience and expertise (building a CV)
When starting out in the legal sector it can be difficult to get a full time or part time permanent role to suit your lifestyle. There are ways to build up your own expertise and experience as a locum within a variety of law firms.
It can be daunting to run your own contractor business and especially when considering how your finances would work which is where an accounting for lawyers specialist will be able to help you.
For more information about our services, contact Gorilla Accounting today to speak to one of our team of specialists. Gorilla Accounting works with all types of contract workers, which includes legal experts which is how we know exactly what we can do to help you to run your business more efficiently and effectively.Â
