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Working freelance: changing landscapes?

15 December 2023 / Matthew Kay
Issue: 8053 / Categories: Features , Profession
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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 way

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
The Court of Protection has ruled in Macpherson v Sunderland City Council that capacity must be presumed unless clearly rebutted. In this week's NLJ, Sam Karim KC and Sophie Hurst of Kings Chambers dissect the judgment and set out practical guidance for advisers faced with issues relating to retrospective capacity and/or assessments without an examination
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
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