Flex Legal

About Flex Legal

Flex Legal Network is a Toronto-based marketplace that connects Canadian law firms, in-house legal departments, and solo practitioners with independent contractor freelance lawyers, paralegals, and law clerks for overflow and project-based work. Its own FAQ page is direct about what it isn't: "Flex Legal Network is not a law firm." Instead, hiring lawyers stay on the file as the supervising lawyer of record and freelancers work as independent contractors rather than Flex Legal employees.

Founder and CEO Erin Cowling started the network in 2015, growing it out of a legal freelance practice Cowling had run since 2013. The network began with 3 freelance lawyers and has since grown to more than 80 lawyers plus roughly 20 freelance paralegals and law clerks, working remotely across the country. Applicants go through interviews, a writing sample, and reference checks, and Flex Legal states an acceptance rate of about 8 percent; accepted freelancers have an average of 10 to 15 years of legal experience in respected law firms and in-house legal departments. (Fees as of August 2026.)

Freelancers cover work such as litigation support, corporate matters, legal research, and drafting, and set their own hourly or flat rates rather than having Flex Legal set pricing for them. Cowling is also the author of a book on freelance legal practice and was previously an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.