STRENGTHEN YOUR TEAM · PROJECTS & SUBJECT-MATTER EXPERTISE
Legal subject matter experts for your legal and compliance projects
When a project needs expertise your team does not have, Alpinum Solutions provides a legal subject matter expert or compliance specialist, for example for regulatory implementation projects, transactions or data protection programmes. The professionals work via staff leasing or freelancing in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, part-time or full-time; your company sets the goal, scope and decisions of the project.
Some projects do not stall for lack of capacity but for lack of knowledge: a new regulation must be implemented, a transaction is coming up or a data protection programme needs building, and nobody on the team has owned that topic before. An external professional brings the missing expertise in-house for the duration of the project, works alongside your team and leaves the knowledge there when the project ends.
The four typical projects below are examples, not individual client cases; a real anonymised assignment follows in the section on in-house work.
Typical projects that need specialist expertise
Regulatory implementation project
A new requirement such as DORA, NIS2 or the EU AI Act affects processes, contracts and policies. A compliance professional with regulatory experience runs the gap analysis, drafts policies and supports the business units through implementation. Duration: several months. Workload: often part-time, full-time in the busy phase. More: interim compliance.
A transaction without in-house M&A experience
An acquisition or disposal is coming up while the legal team runs day-to-day business. A lawyer with corporate and M&A experience coordinates due diligence, draft agreements and the law firms involved. Duration: until beyond closing. Workload: full-time. The practice area corporate law, M&A and governance goes deeper.
Building a data protection programme
Records of processing, impact assessments and data processing agreements are missing or outdated. A data protection lawyer builds the foundations and trains the contact persons. Duration: several months. Workload: part-time or full-time depending on scope. More: data privacy and IT law project lawyers.
Introducing a contract management system
A new tool is meant to handle templates, approvals and deadlines. You need someone who understands both law and process: clause library, approval routes, data migration. Duration: project-based. Workload: usually part-time. More: legal operations project support.
Legal subject matter expert: embedded in your team instead of an outside mandate
When a professional in the team fits better than a mandate
A law firm delivers opinions and representation. Many projects, however, need someone working in-house every day, bringing business units together and preparing decisions. In that case a professional in your own team is often the more direct route; the law firm stays in charge of specialist questions and representation.
Agree the project brief before the start
Goal, deliverables, deadlines and interfaces on one page: who decides, who contributes, what is out of scope? The professional then knows from day one what success looks like.
Keep the knowledge in-house
Plan the handover from the outset: an internal contact works alongside, templates and decisions are documented. When the project ends, your team can carry the topic forward itself.
Practical example (anonymised): corporate/M&A at an industrial company
For a cross-border transaction, Alpinum provided an internationally active industrial company with a senior legal counsel with corporate and M&A experience: 12 months, 100 %, via staff leasing, in the internal corporate/M&A team. He coordinated the internal legal department, international law firms and local counsel; the reporting line was to corporate/M&A or group legal.
Experts at every level and what your company directs
Specialist expertise is not only a matter of seniority. Depending on the project, an experienced lead or a professional handling a clearly defined sub-topic is the right fit.
- Junior, 0–2 years: research, documentation, contract analysis and data maintenance in a project with clear instructions, such as a system rollout.
- Mid-level, 3–6 years: independent work on one subject, for example records and agreements in data protection or a work package of the gap analysis.
- Senior, 7+ years: subject-matter project lead, alignment with management, business units and law firms; if needed as Interim Head of Legal.
Your company sets the project goal, scope, priorities and all decisions. In staff leasing, the professional follows your professional instructions and is integrated into your organisation; in freelancing, they deliver the agreed mandate independently.
Engagement model for projects in Switzerland, Germany and Austria
If the professional works closely in your project team and to your instructions, temporary legal staff via staff leasing fits. A defined work package with a clear deliverable can also go to freelance lawyers. Both models are available part-time or full-time, as an individual or a project team.
- Switzerland: staff leasing, also called Personalverleih, or freelancing.
- Germany: temporary agency work (Arbeitnehmerüberlassung) or freelancing; more on interim lawyers in Germany.
- Austria: an assignment as freelancing or as staff leasing, contracted through the German or Swiss Alpinum company.
Limit: Alpinum provides professionals for your project and does not provide independent legal advice; responsibility for the project stays with your company.
Process: from project brief to the right professional
1 · Describe the project and the expertise gap
Goal, subject, deadlines, languages and preferred workload. From this we derive which profile and which level the project needs.
2 · Review profiles
Selected profiles reach you within 48 hours; you hold the interviews and test the expertise yourself.
3 · Project start
Project brief, access, contacts. The start date is set jointly by you and Alpinum, with no guaranteed date.
4 · Project and handover
The professional delivers the project, and the workload can change by phase. At the end they hand over results, templates and open items to your team.
What specialist expertise costs in a project
What drives the cost
Projects that need specialist expertise are often staffed with experienced professionals. Part-time work lowers the monthly cost without giving up the expertise. Junior rates, models and worked examples are in the guide cost models in interim legal and compliance.
Daily rates experienced and senior, Germany, EUR excl. VAT
- Experienced, 3–6 years: staff leasing 720–960, freelancing 960–1'360
- Senior, 7+ years: staff leasing 960–1'440+, freelancing 1'360–2'000+
Daily rates experienced and senior, Switzerland, CHF excl. VAT
Experienced 800–1'200, senior 1'200–1'800+. As of October 2026.
Questions on projects that need specialist expertise
When is a legal subject matter expert better than a law firm?
When the project needs ongoing work in-house: coordinating business units, drafting documents, preparing decisions. Opinions and representation stay with the law firm.
Are compliance subject matter experts available part-time?
Yes. Many projects do not need the expertise every day. Staff leasing and freelancing are available part-time or full-time, and the workload can be adjusted by project phase.
Can the professional take on a formal function?
Depending on your requirements and the rules in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, yes, for example as data protection officer or as compliance officer with regulatory responsibility. Some functions, such as MLRO, may be subject to regulatory restrictions; we clarify this before the assignment.
What stays with the company after the project?
Documented results, templates and decisions, plus an internal contact who worked alongside. The handover is part of the project brief.
How does this differ from a vacancy or a peak workload?
With a vacancy or a peak workload, capacity is missing for known tasks. Here, expertise is missing for a time-limited initiative. All six occasions at a glance: interim legal support for companies and law firms.
Discuss your project
Describe the project, subject and timeline. Within 48 hours you receive selected profiles with the right specialist expertise.