Freelance lawyer provision has proved the doubters wrong - Geraldine Kelm

When Pinsent Masons launched Vario ten years ago, it was seen as “new law” – an Alternative Legal Service Provider which would serve the growing number of clients keen to source a different way of procuring top-quality lawyers to work on a short-term basis. It also gave lawyers who wanted to work flexibly another way to sell their skills.

Much has changed over the last decade and as the alternative legal market has matured, Vario has grown rapidly and expanded into several international jurisdictions. In addition to freelance lawyer provision, it encompasses other complementary professional services including legal project management, legal technology consultancy, company secretarial services and managed legal services.

As a mature provider, Vario has evolved from just a handful of trailblazers in 2013 to a global community of more than 2,000 lawyers and other legal professionals, and now boasts the largest bench of freelance legal talent in Scotland.

Initially, Vario had an uphill battle convincing lawyers that legal contracting was a viable career route; in its infancy, it may have been perceived as a backward step from a career perspective. Fast forward to 2024 and being a flexible lawyer is now very much established as a sustainable, rewarding career option. Indeed, we are delighted to have worked with the Law Society of Scotland and a number of Scottish universities to help promote the benefits of legal freelancing, including opportunities for paralegals.

Geraldine Kelm is a Partner, Pinsent Masons Vario

In Scotland, opportunities for lawyers to create careers beyond traditional models were very limited a decade ago. Today, plenty of Scottish-based legal professionals have chosen to develop interesting non-traditional careers through flexible resource providers such as Vario.

Variety and quality of work, together with work life balance, remain the driving factors behind lawyers choosing this path and it appeals to many legal professionals who just want to concentrate on the law, and avoid the management and business development responsibilities that typically attach to more traditional roles. It can facilitate an ability to move into other sectors and apply highly transferable skills in different ways.

The model appeals to a wider range of experienced flexible lawyers – from those at the start of their career all the way through to experts with 20-plus years’ experience – with skills covering finance, construction, real estate, corporate, commercial/IP/IT, employment and HR, litigation, energy, regulatory, financial crime and competition.

Another strength of our law firm offering is that Vario is completely integrated within the wider Pinsent Masons business, not a stand-alone enterprise. That is reflected in the access that freelance lawyers and paralegals have to our knowledge systems, libraries, research teams, partners and professional support lawyers.

We take the pain of recruiting and selecting individuals away from clients who can be assured of getting a Pinsent Masons-quality lawyer, assessed to fit the culture and challenges of their business, and with the ability to add value from day one.

Clients’ business needs are evolving too. With constant and mounting pressure on budgets and crunched in-house legal teams, we are increasingly seeing clients taking a more strategic approach towards their legal resourcing requirements. Demand for people-based solutions remains constant, with process efficiencies and technology enhancing speed and scalability.

What will the next decade bring? Certainly more change, but responding to clients’ resourcing pressures, while providing our flexible lawyers with the rewarding, flexible lifestyles that they desire on their terms, will remain key.

Geraldine Kelm is a Partner, Pinsent Masons Vario