Nearly 40% of lawyers want to launch their own firms, new research showed, but those who have taken the plunge warn it is “not for the faint of heart”. 

“Do I wake up at three in the morning and go ‘goodness, I have launched a law firm’ — yes I do,” said Natasha Harrison, managing partner of London disputes firm Pallas Partners, which launched in February as a breakaway from US litigation law firm Boies Schiller Flexner.