The Silent Lunch Series #8

*PLEASE NOTE, that registering for a ticket does not guarantee a seat. We will review your application before confirming*

What is it?

Meet the architects: The Silent Lunch Series is an intimate, two-hour, “silent conference” in Sandton where 100 senior legal industry professionals will gather each month, and rotate through four focused 20–25 minute sessions each time. Each session runs simultaneously in its own zone, and guests listen via wireless headsets while enjoying complimentary coffee, tea, water, and snacks. Every 25 minutes, you move to the next zone, until you have heard all 4 speakers. Then pick up some free snacks and head back to the office.

When is it? Lunch number 8

The second silent lunch conference is between 12pm - 2pm on Thursday 29th July 2027, and is being held in the atrium of the WeWork, 155 West St, Sandton.

Lunch 8 – Alternative Careers and Portfolio Lawyers

Theme: Beyond partnership - new legal career archetypes

Target market: Senior Associates, Counsel, Career/Professional Development teams, Alumni managers

Value Proposition

Not everyone wants to make partner, and for many the path is closing anyway. The portfolio lawyer - combining part-time practice, consulting, teaching, content creation, board roles - is the fastest-growing career archetype. This lunch is for senior associates, counsel, and career development teams who need to understand the financial trajectories, risk profiles, and personal branding required to build sustainable non-partnership careers. We'll compare traditional partner economics vs portfolio/fractional paths and explore how to monetise legal expertise beyond billable hours.

Four Topics

1. The portfolio lawyer: Combining part-time practice, consulting, teaching, content creation and board roles - who's doing it and how
2. Pay, risk and freedom: Comparing 10- and 20-year financial trajectories of traditional partners vs portfolio and fractional careers - real numbers.
3. Building a personal brand that pays: How visibility (LinkedIn, speaking, writing, podcasting) converts into better mandates, retainers and non-exec roles
4. Exit options reimagined: Moving into legal tech, VC, policy, GC roles, or operations without burning your legal capital -career pivots that work.

Where is it?

WeWork, 155 West St, Sandton. Go to the front entrance, ask for the Silent Lunch, and they will show you where we are.

Cost?

Zero for attendees

Who will attend?

Depending on the monthly theme, the audience could be Legal Industry professionals at every level. From students, candidate attorneys, associates, advisors, and counsel to legal technologists, founders of AI ventures, marketers, senior partners, GCs, CFOs, and CEOs.

Why attend?

1. High value, zero fluff
2. Curated lunchtime sessions on pay, careers and AI that directly affect bonuses, promotions, hiring and retention.
3. Four punchy briefings in two hours, with direct access to experts who see what’s working across firms and in-house teams.
4. Deep focus, no noise
5. Silent headsets supplied, short 20–25 minute talks, and intimate 25-person zones keep the content sharp, practical and easy to engage with.
6. Low-pressure, lunch-time format
7. Running 12–2pm in Sandton, so you don’t lose a billable afternoon or a travel day.
8. Coffee, tea, water, snacks and natural networking through zone rotations make it feel more like a small-room briefing than a formal conference.
9. Real, usable takeaways and strategies shared.
10. Every session answers “what should we change in the next 6–12 months?” on remuneration, training and careers, while 100 delegates rotate through all four zones benchmarking and sharing ideas.

For Sponsorship Opportunities, contact Sue Smith on [email protected]