Is a quiet revolution in legal services passing under the radar? I do not allude to those entrepreneurs who want to parade their wares on a stock exchange. Nor to the law firms who have sought to turbocharge growth by widening their ownership base or soliciting private investors. As for ‘Tesco law’, described by justice secretary Ken Clarke over a decade ago as the legal profession’s very own ‘Big Bang’, well – it didn’t quite turn out that way. More of a muffled bump.
No. Something prosaic – but perhaps genuinely epochal – seems to be happening. Tired of office politics, hierarchies, glass ceilings, presenteeism and billing targets, solicitors are turning themselves into self-employed consultants by the hundred. ‘Employed lawyers spend half their time living in fear,’ declares trailblazer Keystone Law’s chief James Knight (a tad melodramatically). ‘Our model encourages them to focus on what the client wants while the firm provides a benevolent supporting role. This is why we believe we are the country’s happiest law firm.’
That’s quite a claim. Yet this relatively new practice model is certainly aligned with the zeitgeist. One might even call it another manifestation of the ‘gig economy’, though some would doubtless bridle at the term. Be your own boss and let someone else do the administrative donkey work for a slice of the fees. Like a barrister in a chambers. And you can work from home, which millions of clerical wage slaves have recently discovered has far more benefits than downsides (especially if you are an affluent homeowner).
According to one survey, the number of solicitors who want to work flexibly has tripled since the onset of the pandemic, to two in every three. And if you think about it, many employed solicitors have been working as de facto consultants throughout the pandemic anyway – but without the benefit of being able to eat the bulk of what they kill.
One study suggests that by 2026 one in three solicitors will be working as a self-employed consultant within law firms disaggregated in this way. That will probably turn out to be an exaggeration. But there will surely be many more, as law firms restructure to accommodate how today’s experienced practitioner actually wants to work.
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