Introduction
Note from Crafty Counsel
We were delighted to have the opportunity to work with Pinsent Masons Vario to explore in depth the working situation of freelance consultants, and the multitude of different ways of working within that category.
What we found was that things are changing when it comes to working identity, and how people define success. The survey revealed that lawyers are generally becoming less focussed on titles, tenure and team size and more concerned about impact, value and their legacy.
It seems that money is not a motivator in itself as long as people are paid fairly for the work that they are doing. We did hear that there were concerns at the outset about the lack of reliability of income while working in a consulting capacity, and this factor is a strong barrier for some, but many Consultants found ways of managing that, and being comfortable with planned and unplanned time off.
More motivating than money is the feeling of satisfaction that people have from the contribution that they make, and that can be felt just as strongly in a series of short projects as within a long legal career at one company, perhaps even more so.
Our final observation is that the feelings of autonomy and control over people's work were very strong intrinsic motivators, and to have the freedom to avoid office politics and the cycle of agreeing annual objectives for themselves and their teams is liberating for many.
I'd like to thank all of the respondents to the survey, in particular the six members of the Vario and Crafty Counsel Communities who generously gave their time to be interviewed and who shared so openly their insights into their working life.
Toby Hornett
Head of Community, Crafty Counsel
Who did we talk to?
Methodology and sample
Our survey gathered data from 97 in-house legal professionals with a mixture of working styles across consultants and employed lawyers. In addition to the survey, we conducted six interviews with consultant lawyers to explore their working lives in more detail.
These lawyers come from a diverse range of sectors, reflecting the vibrant tapestry of the legal industry. Among the consultants, over half have worked with law firm-backed alternative legal service providers (ALSPs), which has become an essential pathway into consultancy.
In-house lawyers surveyed
Top sectors respondents work in
Top organisation type respondents work in
Foreword from Pinsent Masons Vario
The legal profession is constantly changing. Ten years ago we began to play our part in this evolution and Vario was formed. It has since grown into a multi-faceted part of Pinsent Masons’ business, relieving the pressure on busy in-house legal teams by providing high quality freelance legal support via flexible legal services, managed legal services, company secretarial services and legal project management, as well as client consulting in relation to processes and legal technology, across the UK, Ireland, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
Our flexible legal resource relieves the pressure on busy in-house legal teams by providing consultant in-house legal support – whether that’s to resource an upcoming project, help manage peaks in workflow, backfill a team absence or departure, or address a skillset gap – our legal professionals quickly slot into our clients’ businesses and immediately add value.
We partnered with Crafty Counsel to help us explore the changing perceptions and attitudes surrounding contracting within the in-house legal profession. Our flexible legal resource has been the cornerstone of our business for the last decade. Therefore, we believe in continuing to strive to better understand how legal professionals (of all working backgrounds) view the freelance legal community. This white paper is the culmination of our combined research endeavour, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who were involved in the preparation, interview and presentation stages of this project.
From looking at the results and responses, it is clear that now is an exciting time to be a consultant in-house lawyer. Like our friends at Crafty Counsel, we look forward to welcoming more legal professionals into the freelance community.
Geraldine Kelm
Partner, Head of Flexible Services (UK and APAC), Pinsent Masons Vario
