As a general rule, Central Office encourages lawyers to work with colleagues of their own choosing because it facilitates more efficient cooperation. As with a conventional law firm, lawyers generally call upon a colleague when complementary/different expertise is required and/or where input is needed to cover holiday, sickness or overload. You must not undertake work outside your area of expertise.
You may use the Find colleagues' feature of Keyed-In or contact the Growth and Development Team to help you find the most appropriate Keystone lawyer to work with you.
From a regulatory perspective, it is important that the client is advised as to the position (i.e. solicitor/barrister/paralegal) of the colleague joining the client's legal team, their contact details and hourly rate. This might also represent an opportunity to revisit the estimate of costs, scope of our instructions and costs-on-account position. In some cases, an additional Engagement Letter may be required. Our Engagement Letter is the best way to advise clients of colleagues who will be working on the matter and includes a reference to paralegals.
The Clients Team should be notified when a new lawyer becomes involved on a matter. That team will want confirmation that the client has been advised of the new colleagues' rate, contact details and status before adding that colleague to the file. You should use the Add Lawyer to a Matter function in Keyed-In to do this. You should consider adding all the necessary colleagues at the beginning of the matter and not halfway through. Adding them earlier saves time and gives a better result. Only Acting Lawyers and Client Owners are able to access Accounts information and Invoice their time through Keyed-In.