By Sarah Murphy, Clio.
For decades, the path to success in the legal profession followed a predictable trajectory: join a firm as a trainee, progress to associate, and ultimately compete for the coveted partnership position. But a quiet revolution is underway – many lawyers are stepping away from conventional practice to embrace consultant roles.
According to research by LexisNexis, this movement is gaining such momentum that by 2026, up to one-third of UK lawyers could be working under consultant arrangements rather than traditional employment models. The consultant pathway particularly appeals to mid-career and senior lawyers with a specialist practice area and an established client base.
Importantly, the consultant model isn’t about working less – it’s about working differently. The rise of platform law firms that provide the necessary infrastructure and compliance frameworks alongside technological advances that enable remote work and efficient practice management facilitate this transformation.
What’s driving the shift?
Rigid hierarchies and inflexible working arrangements in traditional firms have fuelled dissatisfaction among experienced practitioners seeking greater autonomy. The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated this trend by normalising remote work. While only 4.7% of UK employees worked from home in 2019, a recent Forbes Advisor poll revealed that 63% of respondents now work full-time or part-time remotely.
Recent return-to-office mandates have heightened tensions, while technological advancements and platform law firms have removed barriers to independent practice by providing essential infrastructure without the administrative burden of solo practice.
Market consolidation through mergers and acquisitions has further contributed to this trend. For senior lawyers, consultant roles offer an attractive alternative to the partnership track, allowing control over schedules, client selection, and specialisation.
How the platform model works
Platform firms operate on a straightforward revenue-sharing model. Consultant lawyers typically retain approximately 70% of their billings- a significantly higher proportion than most conventional firm compensation structures. The platform handles essential operational functions that would otherwise create barriers to independent practice, including professional insurance, compliance, and billing infrastructure, offering complete autonomy.
The result is a model that offers both scale and freedom. Lawyers benefit from a reliable support system while retaining the independence to work from anywhere and on their terms.
The pros of switching
As independent, self-employed legal professionals, consultants benefit from unique advantages associated with their working model. These advantages include more time spent with clients, greater autonomy, and improved work-life integration, making consultancy an attractive option for many legal practitioners.
Increased client time: With significantly less time spent on administrative responsibilities, management duties, and office attendance, consultant lawyers can dedicate themselves fully to their clients’ needs.
Greater autonomy: Consultant lawyers have complete flexibility regarding the number and types of clients they engage with. They are free from the pressures of answering to superiors about workloads or billable hours, allowing them complete control over their working schedules.
Improved work-life integration: Typically working from home, consultant lawyers avoid the daily commute and are less likely to be required to attend departmental and managerial meetings. They can establish and maintain their chosen working hours rather than conforming to traditional nine-to-five structures.
Challenges for consultant lawyers
Every professional arrangement has inherent trade-offs, including the consultant lawyer model. Unlike traditional employment, there’s no guaranteed salary- income fluctuates based on client work and billing success.
Business development becomes entirely the consultant’s responsibility. Consultants must actively build and maintain their own client relationships without a firm’s marketing department or referral network.
Although the consultancy model often involves a degree of independence, platform firms can replicate many of the collaborative benefits traditionally found in conventional firms-such as impromptu discussions, mentoring relationships, and collective problem-solving.
While platform firms typically provide substantial support with practice management, compliance, and administrative functions consultant lawyers may still retain varying levels of responsibility depending on the specific agreement with the platform. These dynamics often mean the model is particularly well-suited to experienced practitioners who bring both technical expertise and established professional networks.
How legal tech addresses these challenges
Legal technology is helping to ease many of the operational and structural hurdles faced by consultant lawyers and fee-sharing firms. By using advanced legal practice management software, consultants lawyers can run their practises more efficiently while maintaining a high standard of client service.
For instance, practice management platforms allow lawyers to consolidate client records, communicate effectively, and track case progression in one place. Automation tools help reduce delays, prevent important tasks from slipping through the cracks, and help consultants respond quickly – even while managing a high volume of work independently.
Collaboration features also play an important role. Secure client portals and shared workspaces enable consultants to work together on matters, build informal networks, or refer business when needed, bringing some of the benefits of firm-based teamwork without the overhead.
Importantly, modern legal tech gives consultants confidence in areas like document security, data retention, and compliance, all critical for maintaining professionalism and avoiding risk. With the right tools in place, consultants can spend more time serving clients and less time managing day to day operations.
Implications for traditional law firms
Law firms now face a strategic inflection point: adapt to the changing expectations of legal talent or risk losing valuable practitioners to consultant models. This option requires an honest assessment of current structures and openness to reimagining traditional career pathways.
Forward-thinking firms are already exploring hybrid working arrangements, alternative career tracks, and more flexible compensation models that reward contribution without requiring physical presence. Some innovative firms are also adopting internal “platform”models that give lawyers greater autonomy while still operating within the firm’s broader organisational structure-offering a consultant-style experience with the benefits of institutional support.
This evolution fundamentally disregards what “firm culture” truly means in the modern legal landscape. Rather than defining culture through office presence and hierarchical relationships, firms must identify their core value proposition to lawyers and clients in an era where physical proximity is no longer a prerequisite for effective legal service delivery.
The future of legal careers
The consultant lawyer model has firmly established itself as a legitimate and increasingly desirable career path within the UK legal landscape. Once viewed as a fallback option or post-retirement arrangement, it has evolved into a first-choice trajectory for ambitious, entrepreneurial legal professionals seeking to define success on their terms. Traditional firms that fail to acknowledge and respond to this evolution risk finding themselves at a significant disadvantage in attracting and retaining top talent.
Consultant lawyers are actively redefining the profession’s parameters. As this model continues gaining momentum, it promises to reshape the structure and culture of legal service delivery across the UK.
Author: Sarah Murphy, general manager, EMEA at Clio.
[ This is an educational think piece written for Artificial Lawyer by Sarah Murphy. ]
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