Interim lawyer briefing template: 10 fields

By Christian Steinmetz and Maren Siegels

Short answer: A good briefing for an interim lawyer covers ten points: the trigger and goal, concrete tasks, practice area and governing law, industry, languages, seniority, workload and duration, start date and location, steering (reporting line, authority and engagement model), and systems, access and confidentiality. Putting these on a single page leads to better-matched profiles and a shorter ramp-up. A strong interim lawyer briefing template describes the expected outcome, not just the job title.

This guide is for general counsel, heads of legal and HR leaders in Switzerland and Germany who need to engage an interim legal counsel or contract lawyer at short notice. It sets out what belongs in the briefing, which mistakes slow down selection, and gives you a template to copy.

What should a briefing for an interim lawyer include?

A briefing should contain everything a provider or professional needs to decide, without follow-up questions, whether a profile fits. If one item is missing, you get queries, poorly matched CVs or surprises in the first week. The ten points at a glance:

Trigger and goal: why does the team need support, and how will you measure success?
Tasks: which matters, contracts or projects will the person take on?
Practice area and law: which areas of law, and which legal system (Swiss, German, other)?
Industry: is sector experience essential or just helpful?
Languages: in which languages will the person negotiate, draft and report?
Seniority: how independently must the person work?
Workload and duration: part-time or full-time, how many months, with an option to extend?
Start and location: from when, and on site, hybrid or remote?
Steering: who does the person report to, what authority do they have, which engagement model applies?
Systems and confidentiality: which tools, which access rights, which confidentiality obligations?

Describe the task and the outcome, not the job title

A title such as "senior legal counsel" says little about what the person will actually do over the coming months. Describe the outcome instead: "take over ongoing contract review for procurement, around 15 supply agreements a month" (example) is more precise than "support the legal team".

A three-way split works well:

Core tasks: what the person takes on from week one.
Secondary tasks: what they pick up when capacity allows.
Out of scope: what deliberately stays with the internal team or outside counsel.

The third list is often forgotten. It stops the assignment from creeping and makes the boundary with law firm mandates clear.

Practice area, industry and languages

The practice area is the most important selection criterion, followed closely by the legal system and language. A counsel experienced in Swiss contract law under the Code of Obligations (OR) brings different skills from an in-house lawyer in German employment law. State the governing law explicitly.

Must-haves: three or four at most, for example "corporate/M&A", "German and Swiss law", "fluent business English".
Nice-to-haves: sector experience, knowledge of a particular system, additional languages.
Languages: state briefly which languages the work happens in, for example "German and English, contracts mostly in English".

Every extra must-have shrinks the pool of suitable profiles. Test each requirement with one question: would the assignment fail without it?

Seniority and independence

Seniority depends on how independently the person must decide and deal with the business. Alpinum Solutions works with three levels: junior (0–2 years' experience), experienced (3–6 years) and senior (7+ years).

Junior: clearly structured tasks with close guidance, such as the contract database, first-pass reviews and documentation.
Experienced: independent handling of standard matters, escalating questions of principle.
Senior: complex negotiations, advising management, covering an absent colleague at the same level.

A senior profile for junior tasks wastes budget. A junior profile covering a senior role overloads the internal team, which has to provide more guidance than planned. See choosing the right seniority for interim assignments.

Workload, duration, start date and location

Workload, duration and start date determine which professionals are available at all. Give realistic figures and mark what is negotiable.

Workload: for example 60 % on three fixed days, or 100 %. Part-time works in both engagement models.
Duration: the planned term, any option to extend, and whether a handover period (overlap) with the current role holder is planned.
Start: earliest and latest sensible start date.
Location: office, hybrid or remote. For cross-border work between Switzerland and Germany, clarify the professional's place of residence early.

At Alpinum, selected profiles are usually available within 48 hours; the start date is agreed between the company and Alpinum. A complete briefing is what makes that possible.

Steering, reporting line and authority

Steering determines who assigns work to the professional and who signs off the results. It depends on the engagement model:

Staff leasing (Personalverleih in Switzerland, Arbeitnehmerüberlassung, i.e. German temporary agency work, in Germany): the client company holds the right to give professional instructions, and the professional is integrated into its organisation. See staff leasing for legal and compliance.
Freelancing: the professional works independently within the agreed mandate. The briefing then focuses on outcomes and interfaces rather than day-to-day routines. See freelancing for legal and compliance.

Whatever the model, the briefing should cover:

Reporting line: the function, such as head of legal or general counsel, and a deputy.
Authority: may the person approve contracts, use powers of attorney or deal with authorities? If so, up to which threshold?
Escalation: which topics must go to the head of the team?
Outside counsel: will the person manage law firm mandates or only contribute to them?

Systems, access and confidentiality

Systems and access belong in the briefing because they often delay the start more than selection does. Name the contract management system, document storage, ticketing or intake tool and the language of templates. Decide whether the professional will receive a company device.

Confidentiality: which non-disclosure agreement applies, and is the standard clause in the provider contract sufficient?
Access rights: limited to the matters of the assignment, not the whole repository.
Conflicts of interest: name counterparties and group companies so that conflicts are checked before profiles are presented.

Roles, rights and data protection are covered in confidentiality and access for interim staff.

Interim lawyer briefing template

The template below fits on one page. The example entries are assumptions for a typical assignment and show how specific each entry should be.

Field	Guiding question	Example entry (assumption)
Trigger	Why now?	Senior legal counsel going on maternity leave from 1 March
Goal	How do we measure success?	Contract approvals within five working days, no additional law firm mandates for standard contracts
Core tasks	What from week one?	Procurement and sales contracts, advising sales, NDA review
Out of scope	What stays internal or external?	Litigation, corporate law
Practice area and law	Which areas, which law?	Contract law, Swiss Code of Obligations and German Civil Code
Industry	Must or nice to have?	Industrial sector (nice to have)
Languages	Working and contract languages?	German and English
Seniority	How independent?	Senior (7+ years), negotiates independently
Workload and duration	How much, how long?	100 %, 9 months, 1 month overlap
Start and location	When, where?	February, 3 days in the Zurich office, 2 days remote
Engagement model	Staff leasing or freelancing?	Staff leasing, open to freelancing
Reporting line and authority	To whom, what may the person do?	Head of legal; may approve contracts up to an internally defined amount
Systems and access	Which tools, which device?	CLM system, document storage, company laptop
Confidentiality	Which rules?	Company NDA, access to contract files only
Selection process	Who decides, by when?	Interviews with head of legal and HR in week 3

If you have no answer for a field yet, write "open" and name the person who will decide. That beats an estimate that changes later.

Common briefing mistakes

Most delays come from five mistakes that are easy to avoid:

Re-using an old job advert: it describes a permanent role, not a fixed-term assignment and its goal.
Too many must-haves: they exclude good profiles without reducing risk.
Unclear authority: without approval rules, every question goes back to the head of legal.
No decision-maker named: profiles arrive, but nobody has time for interviews.
Describing freelancing like employment: fixed working hours, integration like staff and constant detailed instructions do not fit freelancing and can raise false self-employment questions. In Germany, working under instructions and integration into the client's organisation indicate employment (Section 7(1) SGB IV). In Switzerland, the AHV compensation office assesses status on the economic reality, not the contract; someone working for a single client is usually treated as employed (Art. 5, 9 AHVG; AHV/IV leaflet 2.02).

Alpinum Solutions provides interim legal and compliance professionals through staff leasing and freelancing; it does not give legal advice. The company remains responsible for its legal function and directs the assignment. To compare providers on the basis of a briefing, use the RFP checklist with 12 questions.

Frequently asked questions about briefing interim lawyers

How detailed does a briefing for an interim lawyer need to be?

One or two pages are usually enough. Length matters less than answering all ten points: trigger, tasks, practice area, industry, languages, seniority, workload and duration, start and location, steering, and systems and confidentiality. Long narrative text dilutes the must-haves. A table with field and entry is quicker for providers and professionals to check.

What if the scope of the assignment is still unclear?

Describe the range and when you will know more, for example "60–100 %, decision after the board meeting at month end". Another option is to start with a smaller workload and an agreed review after four weeks. What matters is that the core tasks are fixed. Without them, no provider can select a suitable profile.

Who should write the briefing for an interim legal counsel?

The person the interim legal counsel will report to should write it, usually the head of legal or a team lead. HR or procurement then add terms, contract form and the selection process. This keeps the professional description precise while the formal details are still complete. The reporting manager should approve the briefing before it goes out.

Should the budget be part of the briefing?

A budget range helps because it sets realistic limits for seniority and workload. At a minimum, state whether a daily rate or a total budget is fixed and whether figures include or exclude VAT. Ranges per experience level for Switzerland and Germany are set out in costs in interim legal & compliance.

Does the briefing differ between staff leasing and freelancing?

The ten points stay the same, but the emphasis shifts. Under staff leasing, the briefing also covers integration, working hours and lines of instruction, because the company holds the right to give professional instructions. Under freelancing, the mandate, outcome and interfaces come first, because the professional works independently. If both models are possible, say so explicitly.

Next step

Send your briefing even if some fields are still open; they can be settled in the first conversation. The onboarding checklist shows how to get the professional up to speed once selected.

Last updated: 30 October 2026.

Briefing an interim lawyer: a template for a precise role profile