Everyone knows that the legal profession, steeped in history, is resistant to change. By its very nature it is a conservative profession.
Pressures from all angles – economic, business demand and technology, to name a few, have shifted the ground beneath it.
In this piece, focused on business law or so-called big-law, we explore trends in the last 10-15 years which became too big to ignore in 2025. We look at this deliberately from a practical lens, with emphasis on what this means for lawyers and their careers.
1. Big law’s three piece mosaic
Data published by the Law Society in November 2025, reflecting statistics from 2023, shows the number of lawyers at law firms has fallen from 69% in 2014 to 59% in 2023, while the in-house segment has risen to around a quarter of the profession. Curiously, unaffiliated (often freelancers/consultants) have doubled to 16%, growing at a faster pace.[1]
Crafty Counsel’s founder, Benjamin White – a leading figure in the legal profession, rightly points out that the legal profession is now a three-part landscape, with:
- private practice;
- in-house (including public sector and corporate); and
- the fastest growing cohort which is “independent” / freelancer[2].
[1] https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/research/annual-statistics-report-2023
[2] Quoted via Linkedin posting in December 2025.
In this three-piece mosaic, private practice remains the largest force without a doubt.
However, for the client businesses, it means that various options are worthy of consideration before instructing external counsel.
2.The rise of “GC services”
In parallel, there is increased need for what can be termed “GC services”. And whilst some may refer to it instead as “GC adjacent”, it is not a term of art as yet, more a new niche that has presented itself amidst the complexity of everything.
Without a doubt, any corporate counsel needs to be a good generalist, lead on strategy, understand cross-functional collaboration, and these days, be AI literate. But how do you cover for the narrow specialist expertise required in, say, stablecoins, self-driving cars or the space economy? Law firms struggle to fully understand products, go to market and regulatory arbitrage in these areas. Meaning, the business is forced to a trade-off: generalist vs specialist. For the lawyer, this translates into the need to be a T-shaped professional: generalist but with a deep expertise in a specific area.
Image credits: Corporate Finance Institute
(link: https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/management/t-shaped-skills/).
Enter demand for a new type of lawyer, usually an experienced GC or CLO, who transliterates what is needed in terms law firms (and even in-house counsel) understand.
GC services do not replace in-house counsel, they are a new addition between them and the legal support around the business: law firms, consultants and tech solutions providers. Think of GC services as a new connector, adaptor or valve between the existing traditional components.
3.AI and automation have narrowed roles and widened expectations
The profession has been fundamentally altered by automation and AI. Whilst pressure from tech was ever-present, and increased multiple times with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, coupled with the paradoxical emphasis on “product” specialism just as much as on general exposure, the result is an altered profession.
Adaptability is now a live or -retire- criterion. To be on demand a lawyer should reframe their narrative as the context shape-shifts and regularly question themselves how do they reposition for what is coming next.
Being a lawyer is now as much about your ability to think and problem-solve as it is to be operationally state-of-art. So much, that in fact we may start seeing more legal engineering type of jobs than any other.
Career tips perhaps?
If I have a career tip (or should I say “tip for survival”?): notwithstanding that all talk is about tools, opportunities will often show up via a person. One simply cannot underestimate the power of human relationships.
Keep networking. Keep looking for nuggets of information in your coffee sessions. And keep asking, regularly and honestly, how do I reposition for what comes next.
About the author: Eduard Alia is a fractional GC associated with Of Counsel. Based in London he specializes in start-ups in Fintech and other innovative sectors. Recognized as a forward-thinking legal leader through various accolades, he speaks often on careers and topics related to the legal profession. He can be reached at eduard@ofcounsel.co.uk.
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