“The traditional law firm model just didn’t work for me as a human,” Catherine Evans says matter-of-factly. “And I could see it didn’t work for clients either.”
Today, as the founder of Kit Legal, Evans leads one of Australia’s most progressive boutique firms specialising in financial services and compliance. Her story is one of quiet rebellion: a lawyer who saw the cracks in the system and decided to build something better.
Evans’ path to entrepreneurship began, somewhat ironically, in disillusionment. “I always thought I’d be a criminal lawyer,” she recalls. But a work experience placement at the Director of Public Prosecutions changed everything. “It was a child rape case. I realised I couldn’t face that darker side of humanity every day. I take my hat off to those who do, but it wasn’t for me.”
Instead, she found herself drawn into corporate law. While still at university, she joined one of Adelaide’s largest firms – now Thomson Geer – in its corporate and commercial team. From there, she went in-house at EDS (later acquired by Hewlett-Packard), supporting the outsourcing of Westpac’s back-office operations. “That’s when I really got interested in financial regulation and the machinery behind banking and finance,” she says.
After a decade of steady progression, Evans became a partner at Cowell Clarke, one of Adelaide’s major firms. It was a professional milestone – and a personal reckoning.
“The turning point came when I had my son,” Evans explains. “I came back from maternity leave, and I was working around the clock. I’d barely see him. Little sympathy was offered from the team, with comments such as ‘you just have to deal with it – see your family on weekends’ often received. And I thought: that’s not the life I want.”
She began questioning the entire economic model underpinning legal practice. “The billable-hour system is broken,” she says. “It rewards inefficiency and excludes the very people who need legal help. Most people put off getting advice until things are really bad – when it’s too late.”
In 2017, she decided to do something radical: she launched Kit Legal with a different set of rules. “No timesheets; no tracking hours; no hierarchy. And no surprises for clients,” she says with a smile. “We went straight to a subscription model. Clients know what they’ll pay each month, and they can call us early – before problems escalate.”
The shift has transformed client relationships. “We talk about fees once, when we start, and never again,” Evans says. “That means we can focus entirely on helping them.”
Kit Legal quickly found its niche in the complex world of financial services law. Evans’ team now focuses exclusively on wealth advisers and wholesale fund managers. The narrower focus allows them to “really know how those industries work,” she says. “It’s not just about knowing the law – it’s about knowing what matters to those businesses.”
At the heart of Kit Legal’s philosophy is a belief that compliance can be a force for good. “I’ve helped clients who’ve received bad advice and lost money,” Evans explains. “But I realised I could have a bigger impact by helping ensure that bad advice doesn’t happen in the first place.”
Evans wants to shift how the industry perceives compliance. “My mission is to make people love compliance – or at least not hate it,” she laughs. “It should feel practical, interactive and common-sense. It’s not about red tape; it’s about good business.”
The firm’s ethos is clear: work only with clients who want to “do the right thing.” Evans says, “We’re not here to help people skirt the law. Our clients want to be seen as trustworthy and professional. That reputation becomes part of their brand.”
If Kit Legal’s model sounds modern, its culture is equally forward-thinking. The firm operates entirely remotely, with senior lawyers based across multiple states. “We meet on Teams every morning and in person a few times a year,” Evans says. “It gives us flexibility and lets us hire great people wherever they are.”
But hiring the right people has been her greatest challenge. “Finding lawyers who think differently is hard,” she admits. “Law is a very traditional industry built on hierarchy and titles – two things we’ve deliberately removed.” At Kit Legal, everyone is simply called “lawyer.” “That caused an uproar at first,” she says, smiling. “People wanted to know their place in the pecking order. But hierarchy doesn’t build collaboration.”
The current team includes three senior lawyers, a head of technology, a marketing and operations lead, and a “chief organiser” who keeps everything – and everyone – running smoothly. The firm’s technology platform underpins its operations and client service. “We don’t want to grow through headcount,” Evans explains. “We want to scale through technology.”
Though based in Adelaide, most of Kit Legal’s clients are in Sydney and Melbourne. “I used to travel constantly,” she says. “Now, we rarely meet clients face-to-face – and it works. Trust can be built digitally.” The firm uses video content and its online platform to create a sense of personal connection. “I want people to feel like they’ve met me, even if they haven’t yet.”
Remote engagement has been central to Kit Legal’s expansion – and COVID-19 helped normalise it. “It validated the model we’d already been using,” Evans says. “We were ahead of the curve.”
The next big growth opportunity lies in anti-money-laundering (AML) compliance. New laws set to take effect in March 2026 will expand the regulated sector from 15,000 to roughly 90,000 entities. “That’s a huge opportunity,” Evans says. “Many accounting firms and financial advisers will need help. We’re perfectly positioned to support them.”
Outside work, Evans lives a world away from the spreadsheets and statutes. She and her husband, a plumber and builder, live on a 17-acre hobby farm in the Adelaide Hills with their two children, Digby (14) and Elspeth (11). “We’ve got animals, gardens, all the chaos that comes with it,” she laughs. “I love yoga, reading – simple things.”
It’s a fitting counterbalance to the intensity of legal innovation. “It keeps me grounded,” she says. “You can’t be too full of yourself when you’re mucking-out a paddock.”
Catherine Evans is part of a growing wave of professionals reimagining the role of lawyers in business — not as reactive advisors, but as proactive partners. Kit Legal’s success suggests the model works: sustainable, scaleable and human.
“What we’re really doing,” she says, “is proving that law doesn’t have to be adversarial or inaccessible. It can be fair, transparent, and genuinely helpful.”
In her quiet, determined way, Evans is showing that the future of law might not look like law at all – and that’s exactly the point.