The magic circle firm is to trial a new scheme which will offer a variety of alternative working options for associates. The trial will be limited to the firm’s London corporate practice to begin with but the sceme may be rolled out more widely if it works.

Four alternatives to the daily grind will be made available:

Firstly, there will be a job-share arrangement where associates can pair up to divide their working week between them.

The second option would be for associates to work off-site on a regular basis.

The third option will be a ‘buddy scheme’ in which associates put their name into a pool to cover colleagues who need time off.

And finally the firm will introduce a maternity phasing arrangement which will be available to female associates from the announcement of their pregnancy up to six months after their return from maternity leave. During this time,they will be taken off client work and become more involved in less time-critical operations.

The firm’s corporate chief Mark Rawlinson is touting the scheme a something that would be seen favourably in the appraisal process. However, the reality of that would not become apparent for quite some time. Guinea pigs step up.