Legal Contracts Interim Support

Background

We were engaged by a global life sciences organisation to provide Legal Contracts Interim Support to its International Legal function during a period of increased workload and internal headcount restrictions.

With a headcount freeze in place, the client required an experienced legal contracts professional who could step in quickly, operate autonomously and provide immediate operational stability without long-term commitment.

The team was managing a high volume of international agreements across multiple jurisdictions, including Master Service Agreements, Statements of Work, confidentiality agreements, investigator agreements and contracts with third-party vendors and healthcare stakeholders.

Alongside this, there was a need to maintain effective oversight of the contract management system and ensure consistency in templates and processes across regions. 

The LS Law Approach

We worked closely with the Head of Legal to understand:

• The technical contracting requirements
• The level of autonomy required
• The interaction with international affiliates and US legal colleagues
• The importance of maintaining quality and risk oversight during a high-volume period

We identified a commercially focused legal contracts specialist with strong UK drafting and negotiation experience, cross-border exposure and hands-on contract management system expertise.

Beyond technical skills, we prioritised stakeholder engagement capability, commercial judgement and the ability to identify potential efficiencies within an evolving legal function.

The Outcome

The interim professional quickly became a trusted member of the team, delivering:

• Improved contract turnaround times
• Greater consistency across templates and documentation
• Enhanced oversight of contract workflows
• Strong collaboration with internal stakeholders and international colleagues

The impact was immediate.

When the headcount freeze was lifted, the client chose to convert the interim assignment into a permanent appointment, securing the individual as a long-term member of the International Legal Team

This engagement demonstrates the value of carefully matched interim legal support — not only to bridge short-term gaps, but to provide long-term strategic benefit when the right talent is introduced at the right time.