Edwards Gibson quoted in the Financial Times special report: “AI legal-tech start-ups’ alternative career path for lawyers”

Edwards Gibson is delighted that Director, Sloane Poulton, has been quoted in the Financial Times special report, “AI legal-tech start-ups’ alternative career path for lawyers”, written by Nick Huber, which explores how the boom in AI creates an alternate career path for lawyers, as opposed to the traditional law firm route to partnership.

Increasingly, junior and senior lawyers are moving into legal-tech start-ups, where their roles include developing AI tools, advising on strategy, and bridging the gap between law firms and in-house teams.

Legal AI start-ups such as Harvey and Legora are actively recruiting lawyers to bring practical legal expertise into product development. These roles often combine legal knowledge with technical skills, with positions such as “legal engineers” emerging as a new hybrid profession.

While compensation in private practice is not the main push-factor, start-ups offer the potential for rapid career progression and significant financial upside through cashing in an equity stake. Edwards Gibson’s Director Sloane Poulton notes that the opportunity for “a huge amount of money” through a sale or flotation can be more appealing than the traditional, slower path to partnership as lawyers “have to go through a very long career path before [they] start earning really serious, serious money [as a] a partner in the law firm”.

Though the move from a structured law firm to a rapidly growing small business may be a culture shock for some lawyers, Poulton argues that a lawyer with experience and contacts may have a “sort of [statesmanlike] way about them”, which may ultimately help them thrive in a start-up.

As law firms and technology companies compete for talent with AI expertise, Poulton observes success in this evolving landscape increasingly depends on lawyers’ ability not only to deliver technical legal advice, but also to operate commercially: “Some law firm partners are fantastic sales people… Gone are the days when they could sit there and wait for the phone to ring.”

Read the full Financial Times article here