The legal profession has strong self-employment conventions, and locum solicitors and contract lawyers often have a clear outside IR35 position, but clear conventions are not the same as automatic safety. Working practices, the nature of the engagements and the size of the firms involved all affect the analysis.
Locum solicitors covering periods of absence or working on defined caseloads have a strong self-employment profile. They bring their own professional judgement, bear professional liability, and the engagement is clearly time-limited. The risk increases where a locum is filling a permanent headcount with little distinction from a member of staff in terms of direction, hours and integration.
Contract in-house counsel roles (particularly longer-term general counsel or deputy GC roles at large organisations) face similar IR35 analysis to finance contractor roles. Integration into the senior team, direction from the CEO or board, and filling what would otherwise be a permanent vacancy all point toward employment. The legal professional context helps but does not override the fundamental IR35 tests.
Solicitors who operate across multiple client firms simultaneously, maintain their own professional indemnity insurance, and manage their own practice infrastructure have a strong self-employment case. Maintaining PII as a contractor rather than relying on the firm's cover is a meaningful indicator of genuine self-employment.
We review the engagement against the three key tests with specific reference to how locum and contract legal work operates in practice. The professional conventions and regulatory framework form part of the analysis.
Annual accounts, CT600, Companies House filings and self assessment. For solicitors with professional conduct obligations around client account handling, we ensure the company structure is correctly maintained.
Travel to firm placements, professional subscriptions (SRA practising certificate, SRA Annual Renewal, law society membership), CPD costs and professional development training are all potentially allowable. We make sure the claims are comprehensive and correctly documented.
Book a free call. We will talk through your IR35 position, your structure and whether there is anything worth changing. No hard sell, no obligation.