The Lawyers for projects model
CEO Laia Moncosí tells Iberian Lawyer about the origins of the project, the evolution of the ALSP, and why their proposal does not compete with—but rather complements—traditional law firms
by ilaria iaquinta
It’s a simple scene: early morning on 1 October 2017, in a coworking space in Barcelona. Laia Moncosí rolls up the shutter and switches on her computer as the city begins to wake. The previous day, 30 September, she had left a Big Four firm, PwC TLS. “At that moment, I wanted to continue working in competition law, but the market in Barcelona was small, and most of the work came from Madrid. I didn’t want to relocate for family reasons. I thought: if working on a project basis works for me, it could also work for others seeking flexibility without giving up challenging cases. So, I decided to find a different way of working—project-based, not within a traditional firm”, Moncosí tells Iberian Lawyer. That’s how Lawyers for Projects began: senior talent with both in-house and sectoral experience, engaged only for the time and projects each legal department requires. Exposure to well-established models in the UK, the US, and Australia reinforced that conviction.
ORIGINS
The company was founded in October 2017, with Gabriel Oriol as co-founder. In 2021, Raquel Arenas joined as a partner, completing the current trio. The early days were not easy: “At that time, Spain was very traditional, and remote work generated scepticism—you had to build the narrative and prove that the best specialist isn’t always in your city”, she recalls. “During the first months we had to do a lot of ‘evangelising’. There was considerable distrust, especially in the Barcelona market, which was very attached to traditional practices. Talking about flexible and remote legal services sounded almost revolutionary”, she adds.
The project rests on two pillars—flexibility for professionals and efficiency for companies— with an exclusive focus on corporate clients. As Moncosí explains: “Flexibility for lawyers was essential, because before the pandemic, the business law sector was characterised by rigid working hours and structured career paths that left little room for new ways of working. On the other hand, corporate legal departments were facing an increasingly complex and shifting regulatory environment with limited resources”. Within that framework, the firm operates as temporary support for in-house teams and law firms, particularly in mid-level complexity matters…
DOWNLOAD THE MAGAZINE TO KEEP READING THIS ARTICLE
On the picture, Raquel Arenas and Laia Moncosí.
