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15 December 2023 / Matthew Kay
Issue: 8053 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Working freelance: changing landscapes?

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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 of working now firmly established, but what’s driving these lawyers

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Jurit LLP—Caroline Williams

Private wealth and tax team welcomes cross-border specialist as consultant

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

Freeths—Michelle Kirkland Elias

International hospitality and leisure specialist joins corporate team as partner

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Flint Bishop—Deborah Niven

Firm appoints head of intellectual property to drive northern growth

NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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