Why portfolio careers appeal to modern lawyers
For years, the implicit message in many UK firms has been that there are only two respectable destinations for ambitious solicitors: partnership or exit.
Yet a growing number of lawyers are quietly choosing a third path – the portfolio career.
Instead of tying their identity to a single employer, they combine consultant work, project roles, side businesses and non‑legal interests into a tailored mix of income streams.
For entrepreneurial, independently minded lawyers, this can be far more attractive than climbing a narrow ladder with diminishing returns. It offers control, variety and the chance to align work more closely with personal values and lifestyle goals.
A portfolio career is not simply “having a side hustle”.
At its best, it is a deliberate strategy to de‑risk your career, broaden your skill set and create space for experimentation. Articles from the Law Society and others now highlight portfolio paths as a legitimate option, particularly for those returning from career breaks, seeking more flexibility or stepping away from the partnership treadmill.
Once you have uncoupled your value from a traditional job description, it becomes easier to imagine more creative combinations of work.
The first step is mindset. Moving from a linear narrative – trainee, associate, partner – to a portfolio requires you to let go of the idea that a “proper” career must look a certain way. Instead, you start thinking like an investor in your own human capital, asking: where do I want my expertise and energy deployed over the next few years, and how can I diversify without fragmenting myself?
A useful way to explore this is to map your existing skills and interests, then imagine three to five roles or activities that could make use of them. These might all be legal (consultancy, neutral evaluation, teaching on professional courses) or a blend of legal and non‑legal (a small business in a passion area, advisory roles in sectors you care about).
By seeing your career as a portfolio, you shift from passively waiting for opportunities to actively constructing a mix that supports both your financial and lifestyle ambitions.
Once you accept that your career does not have to be defined by a single job title, you can start to design a mix of roles and revenue streams that suits both your finances and your appetite for variety.
For many UK solicitors, consultancy is the anchor: a predictable, higher‑value income stream that leverages their legal expertise and existing network. Around that, you can add “spokes” that express other interests or build new skills – teaching on professional courses, mentoring founders, non‑executive or trustee roles, legal content creation, or an entirely non‑legal side business.
Start with a realistic target for how much legal income you need to maintain your current standard of living. If you already have a client base, you might decide that two or three strong consultancy relationships, underpinned by a fee‑share model, are enough to cover core costs. That frees you to experiment with smaller, higher‑risk or more creative projects without jeopardising your mortgage payments.
Think carefully about how complementary each element is. A part‑time in‑house counsel role combined with freelance drafting for start‑ups, for example, may risk conflicts of interest and fatigue; whereas combining consultancy with teaching, writing or board work can broaden your network and reinforce your positioning as an expert.
The romantic version of a portfolio career is all autonomy and variety; the reality is that without boundaries and systems, it can quickly become more stressful than a single demanding job. Avoiding burnout starts with treating your time and energy as finite resources. Decide how many hours a week you are genuinely willing to work across all roles, then allocate them intentionally: consultancy, other paid work, business development and recovery. Use separate calendars for different roles if that helps you see at a glance where your capacity is going.
Make it a rule to pause before committing and check that new work either strengthens your strategic direction or clearly replaces something less aligned. Systems will keep you sane. Standardise onboarding, engagement terms and billing so that whether you are advising a client as a consultant, delivering a training session or taking on a short‑term non‑executive assignment, you are not reinventing everything from scratch. Simple templates – scopes of work, fee proposals, invoices – reduce cognitive load and make it easier to juggle multiple projects.
Build a small support network around you: an accountant who understands consultancy and multiple income streams, a coach or mentor who has navigated a similar path, and a peer group of other portfolio lawyers you can compare notes with.
Finally, revisit your portfolio design regularly. As your consultancy practice grows, you may be able to drop lower‑value gigs or negotiate better terms. Equally, you might discover that a non‑legal strand – such as a small ecommerce business or creative project – becomes both lucrative and energising, leading you to dial back the legal component.
One of the main advantages of a portfolio path is this capacity to evolve. By building in regular reviews, protecting your wellbeing and being honest about what is and is not working, you can enjoy the upsides of multiple income streams without losing the control and balance that probably drew you to this model in the first place.