Berwin Leighton Paisner has beefed up its pioneering Lawyers on Demand (LoD) business by adding a 'pay-as-you-go' service, which will give clients access to legal help remotely to manage surges in workload.

The new operation, known as LoD On Call, will operate as a sister service to BLP's existing Lawyers on Demand business, which is being rebranded as LoD On Site.

BLP's LoD On Site operates on a secondment-style basis, with selected lawyers or teams of lawyers working in-house and with law firms for a designated number of days per week. In contrast, LoD On Call will work on a pay-as-you-go basis with lawyers working via the internet, email or telephone to help clients on short-term projects.

LoD co-founder Simon Harper told Legal Week: "The legal market is changing – this was the next obvious step to take to keep ahead in the market. We need to offer clients new things; it's been six years since LoD was first launched. Rather than using an external firm clients wanted to use our lawyers on remote projects where workloads will go up and down."

He added: "For in-house counsel, this new model fills the gap between what private practice lawyers do and what in-house teams do. For LoD's law firm clients, it opens up an option to use virtual team members."

About 20 'on call' lawyers have taken part in trials prior to the launch, with 17 different clients.

LoD On Site has built up a team of about 120 lawyers working with clients such as Premier Foods, Google, Porsche and Channel 4. In June 2012, it was spun out from BLP and transferred into a separate company, with the firm retaining an 80% stake.

Since BLP launched its original service in 2007, several rival firms – including Eversheds, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Pinsent Masons – have announced similar initiatives in response to a sector-wide push by clients to cut costs.

The increase in the number of firms offering freelance lawyers on a temporary basis is largely in response to changes in legal market with clients and lawyers wanting to work differently. Greater flexibility to handle fluctuating workloads and cheaper working rates are becoming a requirement from many clients, prompting firms to shake up traditional models.

Eversheds launched a pilot of its Agile service in September 2011 before making it permanent in March last year, while Freshfields officially launched its contract lawyer initiative 'Freshfields Continuum' in May 2012, drawing on its 3,500-strong pool of former fee earners for additional staffing during busy periods, with Pinsents this February announcing a freelance lawyer service called 'Vario'.