I've had a really varied and interesting career so far. After graduating in law at Sheffield University and qualifying as a solicitor, I joined Camerons and after only a few years, became a partner and head of litigation at its central London office. Over a 15-year period there, I developed a specialist niche in construction law and dispute resolution.

I then had a complete career change. For the next 13 years, I worked as a government lawyer at the Treasury Solicitor's Department (now Government Legal Department), initially as a construction law specialist working principally for the Highways Agency and the Ministry of Defence. Within a few years, I was promoted to the senior civil service and led a 30-strong team on matters of commercial contracts and litigation support. On paper, my life couldn't have looked better. Trouble was, living that life was another matter.

My first year as a partner coincided with getting married and starting a family very soon afterwards. Being a father to two small children while at the same time heavily committed to developing and growing a law practice – and contributing to the wider firm – created personal challenges. Over the whole 15 years as a partner in private practice, there were also constant concerns about maintaining profitability. Given that I, with my fellow partners, was personally liable for the firm's debts and liabilities, I could even lose my house – the roof over the heads of my wife and children. Added to this, daily time recording and monthly billing were not my favourite activities and the long hours and some weekend working, just to stay on top of things, left me feeling that I was compromising on the time I should be spending with the family.

The move into government work provided relief from a lot of these woes, which was a big reason for the move. But they were replaced by a new clutch of stresses – not least the pressures associated with leading a busy team of 30-plus people. And with this management responsibility, I found I was becoming much less involved in casework – which was the one aspect of the job I most enjoyed.

So now to the third phase of my career, which began in 2013 as a contract lawyer for Vario, Pinsent Masons' freelance lawyer business. All my work time is now spent doing actual legal work and interacting with colleagues (lawyers and other professionals in the construction industry) on shared projects.

I have gained a really helpful work/life balance. What's worked best for me has been to work four days a week (Monday to Thursday) and to therefore enjoy longer weekends. And there's plenty of scope to take holidays as and when I choose. Other colleagues work flexibly in many other ways.

My motivation going in was to achieve this better work/life balance. But now I know what contract lawyering is like, I'd say an even greater benefit is the variety and quality of work I now have, and this interaction with people. I can unequivocally say that I wish I'd made the transition to contracting sooner.