Consultant Lawyer Advisory & Practice Strategy – Sydney & Australia

Consultant lawyers sit in a peculiar and interesting position in solo law practice.

On paper, consultancy promises autonomy, flexibility, and freedom from traditional firm constraints.

In practice, many consultants simply swap one set of constraints for another, often with less visibility, less leverage, and the same personal risk as flying completely solo.

Most solicitor consultants realise fairly quickly for consultant lawyer practice strategy i.e.

• You are responsible for bringing in the work

• You are responsible for doing the work

• And you are responsible for getting paid for the work

Without a deliberate strategy, a consulting practice quickly becomes reactive - busy, but constrained in reach, control, and long-term potential.

At Ippolito Advisory, Paul Ippolito works with consultant and independent lawyers who want to treat their practice as what it actually is -
a business operating inside someone else’s infrastructure.

Our focus is helping consultant lawyers optimise, strengthen, and future-proof their existing practices not by chasing growth for its own sake, but by improving control, clarity, and sustainability.

Who This Work Is For

We advise:

• consultant lawyers within small, mid-size, and large firms

• independent practitioners operating under consultancy or fee-share models

• solicitors deliberately transitioning into consultancy roles

• solicitors deliberately transitioning out of consultancy and into fully solo practice

This work is for lawyers with an existing or emerging practice who want to stop operating on instinct alone and start making structural, strategic decisions.

Independent Legal Consultant Coaching Problems

The problems we see are consistent and they are structural, not personal.

They commonly include:

• Weak or inefficient systems

• Dependence on firm processes that do not scale or suit long-term goals

• Limited control over pricing, positioning, and client selection

• Time-for-money ceilings

• Capacity constraints

• Inconsistent workflow and cashflow

• Over-reliance on a small number of referral sources

• Uncertainty about long-term sustainability and practice value

• Ongoing tension between autonomy and firm expectations

• Unclear thinking about how AI will reshape consulting and fee-share models

What Our Advisory Work Focuses On

Our work is practical, strategic, and commercially grounded.

It typically focuses on:

• Clarifying the commercial and strategic structure of your consulting practice

• Improving workflow, systems, and visibility

• Strengthening positioning and niche

• Reducing dependence on pure time based billing

• Using AI sensibly as a second brain and thinking partner

Solicitors Transitioning Into Consultancy

We also advise solicitors considering or moving into consultant or independent roles within firms.

This work focuses on:

• Understanding the realities of consultancy arrangements

• Practice structure, positioning, and commercial leverage

• Long-term viability and exit optionality

So consultancy is entered deliberately not by default.

From Consultancy Back To Solo

We also work with solicitors who are exiting consultancy arrangements and returning to fully independent solo practice.

This transition is often more complex than expected.

Systems, pricing, positioning, client ownership, workflow, risk, and cashflow all need to be rethought not simply lifted and shifted.

Our advisory work focuses on structuring the move deliberately, protecting continuity of work where possible, and avoiding the common mistakes that turn a clean exit into an expensive reset.

What To Do Next

If you’re already running a solo practice as an independent consultant and need clarity on priorities and direction, the Solo Practice Tune-Up is designed for exactly that point.