A legal interim is a legal professional who chooses to work on a temporary basis, outside of an organisation’s payroll. Interims can also be known as temporary workers, freelancers, locums, contractors or consultants, each with a slight variation to the way in which they are employed.

Origin of Interim

Interim professionals date back to ancient Roman times, when Roman publicans or ‘Roman contractors’ were being engaged to erect or maintain public buildings, supply armies overseas, or collect certain taxes. So successful was the system for letting contracts that it was well established by the 3rd century BC.

The modern practice of interim workers started in the mid to late-1970s, when permanent employees in The Netherlands were protected by long notice periods and companies faced large costs for terminating employees. Hiring managers on a temporary basis presented itself as an ideal solution.

Since the 1980s, the concept and use of interims as a resourcing tool for organisations has grown rapidly with great success and has since received attention from academic researchers and policy makers as well as practitioners.

Other useful information:

Why Hire an Interim?

Why Work as an Interim

Difference between Interim versus Fixed Term Contracts

Contract Workers and IR35 Blog