header-logo header-logo

Working freelance: changing landscapes?

15 December 2023 / Matthew Kay
Issue: 8053 / Categories: Features , Profession
printer mail-detail
151416
Matthew Kay reflects on how freelance legal consulting has evolved & offers some tips on how to make a success of it
  • A report from Vario and Crafty Counsel exploring freelance legal consultants’ motivators and different ways of working revealed lawyers are generally less focused on titles and more concerned about value and their legacy.
  • Autonomy and impact are chief drivers for these lawyers—many want the autonomy to work on projects which excite and inspire them.

This year we celebrated our 10th anniversary—an occasion which gave us an opportunity to reflect on a number of market-wide issues. For instance, are alternative legal service providers (ALSPs) really that ‘alternative’ anymore? And after a huge amount of change and evolution over the past decade, what is next for this market? What has been clear is that lawyers are hungry to work in different ways, and the path to partnership is no longer the be-all and end-all for legal careers. Over the past decade we’ve seen freelance legal consulting grow and grow, with this

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
back-to-top-scroll