Pinsent Masons is to launch a freelance lawyer service, offering businesses temporary legal professionals on an ad hoc basis.

Dubbed 'Vario', the new service which will go live in the spring will provide competition to similar ventures such as Eversheds' Agile service and Berwin Leighton Paisner's (BLP) Lawyers on Demand.

Vario will offer in-house teams the option to bring in professionals ranging from paralegal to partner-level experience to cover fixed-term projects or maternity leave, for example.

The initiative is being led by partner Alison Bond, who previously headed Pinsents' client service team.

Pinsents is currently recruiting for the new service, looking for lawyers with a range of experience from both a private practice or an in-house background.

Pinsents' managing partner David Ryan (pictured) said: "The legal market is changing and we are committed to changing with it. We know that our clients often face periods of high demand and value the ability to ramp-up resource for a specific purpose, often at short notice and for a defined period of time.

"By launching Vario we aim to marry client demand for lawyers who meet Pinsent Masons' high professional standards with the aspirations of lawyers for a stimulating but more flexible career."

BLP was one of the first major firms to offer freelance lawyers on a temporary basis with the launch of Lawyers on Demand in 2008 while Eversheds launched a pilot of its Agile service in September 2011 before making it a permanent fixture at the firm in March last year.

Eversheds has stated its intention to redeploy a number of its lawyers to Agile following the culmination of an on-going redundancy consultation involving 166 staff.