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If you're looking to be a solicitor in private practice, most of the firms you'll be looking at will probably be limited liability partnerships (LLPs). Working at an LLP long-term means you'll probably follow the traditional career trajectory from trainee to associate to, eventually, partner. As partner, you take on some personal liability for the firm and, in doing so, obtain part ownership of it. This structure, where the role of partner is managerial and legal, and where partners share both profits and liability for the firm between them, has long been taken for granted in the legal sphere. But in recent years, a series of new career paths for lawyers have emerged, threatening to replace the traditional partnership model – or, at the very least, to compete with it.

In this article, I'll be exploring some of the options beyond the partnership model, including alternative legal service providers (ALSPs), freelance and others. So, if you're sure the partnership trajectory is not for you, unsure of what your future holds or even just curious about where you could go with your career, read on!

Alternative service models

An ALSP is a business providing legal services to in-house teams, while not being a traditional law firm. These encompass a wide range of companies, from consulting firms' legal departments to niche tech-based startups. ALSPs typically utilise legal technology and specialists in a creative and efficient way to meet the needs of their clients. As such, they can look after the repetitive administrative legal tasks to free up more time for their client's in-house legal team. Their efficiency and high-quality legal tech can also help introduce their clients to this new tech (so that they, too, can use it for efficiency).

The usual services provided by ALSPs include drafting and reviewing legal documents, support with legal tech and operations, project and contract management and due diligence. They offer an innovative alternative to traditional firms, as well as a chance to work alongside other legal teams.

Freelance lawyers

The rise in freelancers, both in the legal industry and beyond, was heralded by the pandemic. The increased necessity and productivity of working from home, accompanied by the widespread layoffs during the pandemic, led to many pursuing a career in freelance legal work (if not as their primary source of income, then at least on the side). Like any freelance career, there are pros and cons.

While freelancing certainly offers more flexibility, independence and self-reliance, mistakes may be more detrimental as they impact not just your client but your brand (upon which you’ll likely be relying to obtain work). Pay is also typically lower and more unreliable. Plus, the trajectory of your career is unpredictable – it doesn't follow a set hierarchy. Whether or not this is a preferable alternative to working in a law firm depends, of course, on your personal priorities and goals.  

Consulting firms (in-house)

The big four (a group of large-scale consulting firms: KPMG, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and PwC) have increased their competitive presence in the legal sphere, with their greatest competence being merger and acquisition due diligence. Seeing as their traditional accounting and consulting services have become less profitable over the past 30 years, the big four have been vying for growth in the legal industry. By diversifying their business and the services they provide, and by ensuring that every service offered is strong enough to trump their competitors, they can exploit the legal industry's current 'more-for-less' problem: where law firm clients demand better services at lower rates.

Unlike traditional law firms, the big four don’t have the issue of transitioning from the classic hourly rate pricing model, allowing them to position themselves as a cheaper, and more practically viable, competitor. The fact that they offer other, non-legal consulting services also bolsters their competitiveness, alongside the fact that they’re established names in the consulting industry. These holistic, high-grade services, accompanied by well-integrated legal tech, may be tough to beat.

Whether or not working at a consulting firm will benefit you depends, again, on your own preferences and ambitions. While there’s a chance that consulting firms will be dealing with the high-caliber clients and cases of their law firm competitors, if you're looking to specialise in a niche area of law and grow your specialism alongside your career, it's unlikely that a consulting firm would be the right fit for you. Moreover, although consulting firms pose a threat to their law firm competitors, their legal services are still a very small part of their overall business services.

If the opportunity to work with many other non-legal departments appeals to you then this may be a bonus, but there’ll be the disadvantage of limited attention and resources from management. Besides, as of right now, there's only a handful of legal services they offer – two of the big four, for instance, don't even offer litigation services. Depending on what you're interested in, it might not even be practical to consider a career outside of a law firm.

As you might imagine, with all this competition on the horizon, there are many firms that don’t want to be left behind. This leads us to our next category…

Firms creating new career paths

Both UK and US law firms are rising to meet the challenges posed by their competitors. From Howard Kennedy's introduction of the 'legal director' route, which gives high-performing associates the opportunity to take on a greater, more autonomous role without the financial liability of a partner; to Slaughter and May's 'switch on/switch off' scheme, which allows associates to reduce their core hours (in exchange for a pay reduction).

Law firms are responding to the increased demand – brought on by the pandemic, and catalysed by the dispersal of talent across ALSPs, consulting firms and freelance – for better work-life balance and flexibility, while maintaining the opportunity for those who want to go further to do so (both in terms of responsibility and specialism). These changes have also been motivated by the recent pay wars between US and UK firms, with the former having made their nests within the UK market within the last twenty or so years. But will it be enough to keep up?

Personally, all these changes have me even more excited about my future in law. Increased competition in the legal industry, between both law firms and non-law businesses, comes at a time when solicitors have more and more demands regarding topics such as work-life balance, autonomy and unorthodox career progression. We’re shifting away from taking things for granted in the legal industry, and towards an exciting and promising unknown – and I can't wait to see where that leads us.