How to become a freelance solicitor in England and Wales

What a freelance solicitor is

Since November 2019, a solicitor can practise on their own account without the practice being authorised as a firm. The SRA uses “freelance solicitor” for a self-employed solicitor who:

• practises alone and employs no one in connection with their services
• practises in their own name, not under a trading name or through a service company
• is engaged directly by clients, with fees paid directly to them

You are regulated as an individual, under the Code of Conduct for Solicitors, and you need a current practising certificate (£552 for 2026/27). The SRA’s guidance says the route isn’t open to anyone practising in a partnership, as a consultant on someone else’s behalf, or through a limited company. A company that provides reserved legal services must itself be an SRA-authorised firm.

Reserved and non-reserved work

The rules that apply to you depend on whether you do reserved legal activities. Section 12 of the Legal Services Act 2007 lists six:

• exercising a right of audience
• conducting litigation
• reserved instrument activities, which include preparing a transfer, charge or other deed relating to land and making applications to HM Land Registry
• probate activities, meaning preparing the papers for a grant of probate or letters of administration
• notarial activities
• administering oaths

Everything else, including legal advice, is non-reserved. If your practice is entirely non-reserved, regulation 10.2(a) of the SRA Authorisation of Individuals Regulations applies: you don’t need firm authorisation, and the conditions in the next section don’t apply. You can freelance in non-reserved work whatever your post-qualification experience.

The conditions for reserved work

To offer reserved legal services as a freelancer, regulation 10.2(b) requires that you:

• have practised as a solicitor for at least three years since admission or registration
• are self-employed and practise in your own name, not through a trading name or service company
• don’t employ anyone in connection with your services. The SRA says “employ” can include contracting with someone, whatever you call them. You can still buy administrative support, for example in a chambers arrangement or a serviced office whose staff also work for others.
• are engaged directly by the client, with fees payable to you. In a chambers arrangement, the contract and the payments must be in your name, not the chambers’.
• have a practising address in the UK
• hold indemnity insurance that provides adequate and appropriate cover (see below)
• hold no client money, other than fees and disbursements paid on account (see below)

If you would rather pass all reserved work to someone else and do none yourself, the SRA treats your practice as non-reserved, and the conditions fall away.

Client money

Paragraph 4.3 of the Code of Conduct stops you, as a freelancer, from personally holding client money, with one exception. You may hold money for your fees and for disbursements you haven’t yet billed, if:

• any disbursement money relates to costs you have incurred for the client and are liable for, and
• you have told the client in advance where and how the money will be held

Held on those terms, it doesn’t have to go into a client account. Anything else, such as damages, money from an estate or the funds for a transaction, you can’t hold at all. The SRA suggests safeguarding it in another way, for example through a third-party managed account, where a regulated payment provider holds the funds.

Indemnity insurance

If you do any reserved work, you must hold insurance that gives “adequate and appropriate” cover for all the services you provide or have provided, reserved and non-reserved. There is no SRA minimum sum and you don’t need a policy on the SRA’s minimum terms. The SRA will look for evidence that you made a reasonable, rational assessment, considering:

• your client profile, and the number and type of matters
• the value of the work you take on each year
• the probable maximum loss on each type of work
• your claims history
• any alternative arrangements you or your clients make

Cover is normally on a claims-made basis. There is no set run-off requirement for freelancers, but the SRA expects you to plan for claims that arrive after you stop practising.

If all your work is non-reserved, the SRA imposes no insurance requirement. Any claim would still be against you personally.

Either way, before you take on a client you must tell them that you aren’t required to hold insurance on the SRA’s minimum terms. If you have other insurance in place, say so, and give details of the cover if they ask (Transparency Rules, rule 4.3).

The rules that still apply

• The Code of Conduct in full, including client identification, complaints handling, client information and explaining how your services are regulated and what protections apply.
• The Transparency Rules, if you do reserved work: publish cost information for any of the listed services you offer, such as residential conveyancing or uncontested probate, and your complaints procedure, including how to complain to the Legal Ombudsman and the SRA. Without a website, you must make the same information available on request.
• No SRA digital badge. The badge is for authorised firms, so you can’t display it.
• Money laundering. If you provide legal services in financial or property transactions, you are likely to be an independent legal professional under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, which treat freelancers as sole practitioners. The SRA must approve you as the practice’s beneficial owner, officer and manager.
• The Compensation Fund. Your clients can apply to the fund for losses caused by your dishonesty or failure to account for money, and your practising certificate fee includes the £170 contribution.

Notifying the SRA

Tell the SRA before you start, using the freelancer notification in mySRA. It asks whether you will deliver reserved or non-reserved services and checks you against the conditions. It includes the money laundering questions if they apply. There is no fee, and the SRA says it will acknowledge your notification within 30 days. It includes what you tell it in its public register.

Use the freelancer update notification if your work changes, for example if you start reserved work, and end the freelancer post in mySRA when you stop.

What it costs

The fixed regulatory cost is your practising certificate. There is no firm application fee, no firm periodic fee and no firm Compensation Fund contribution. Your other costs are insurance, which depends on your work and claims history, and the systems any practice needs. For the comparison with running a firm, see how much it costs to start a law firm.

When freelancing isn’t enough

You need an authorised firm, or a role in one, if you want to:

• hold client money for transactions, settlements or estates
• do reserved work with less than three years’ practice
• employ a team, or trade under a brand or through a company, while doing reserved work

Compare the options in freelance, sole practitioner or consultant, and see how SRA firm authorisation works if a firm is the answer.