Meeting Sally for coffee in early 2019 was an absolute pleasure.
She’s one of the most down to earth lawyers I’ve met, helping under-served customer niche via a mix of ad-hoc and part-time engagements. And, she loves setting up contracting processes using tech most us of already have!
1. What are you best at i.e. your sweet spot?
Practical and timely day-to-day frontline legal support: quick commercial contract reviews, drafting and negotiation across the full spectrum of commercial contracts. I have a lot of experience in construction contracts, contract administration and dispute avoidance – particularly in the utility industry but I have deliberately branched out over the last few years into other industries to broaden my reach.
2. Tell us about your outsourced in-house counsel services - is it for businesses without a lawyer or for GCs (or both)?
I set up to support small to medium sized businesses that do not have an in-house lawyer or even commercial support. I become their trusted in-house legal and commercial adviser but on an ad-hoc, part-time or ebb & flow basis. My clients include IT, construction, property development, storage, cleaning and logistics equipment supply and maintenance.
3. Do you work best with any particular industries or sub-sectors?
I know construction really well and enjoy getting on the front-line with small construction subcontractors that often get on the wrong end of the stick when facing the larger main contractors. However, I branch out beyond the construction market too.
4. You do more than just the ‘black letter’ legal work, but also build systems and processes, and legal project management?
Yes! I must be especially dull because I really enjoy setting up good contracting processes – drafting bid cycle policies and procedures, contracting play-books, checklists for contract reviews and setting up sets of contracting templates for clients to self-help when they need to do simple transactions. I also run training sessions often combined with HR or Safety teams on topical compliance issues – preparing slide packs and training materials that business can use for induction or ongoing training.
5. How far can the Microsoft product suite (e.g. SharePoint etc) go towards running an in-house legal operations platform?
SharePoint is improving all the time, it is an easy to use platform for publishing useful guidance on contracting processes, storing contract templates, managing task lists ready for client staff to access.
I have integrated SharePoint with Salesforce in a past role which worked really well for the bid and sales teams and was a lot cheaper than trying to customise Salesforce and extend its licence footprint. I have also worked closely with HSEQ teams in the past to use SharePoint library and document control for publication of quality documents.
I think commitment to make SharePoint just work is important for some businesses as it is by far the cheapest option given it is a foundation product of the MS suite. MS improves all the time - so does SharePoint. It is also pretty easy to teach yourself some SharePoint tricks – SharePoint Maven (sharepointmaven.com) is my go-to when I get stuck.
6. Just coming back to you – why did you set up your own firm?
I wanted more flexibility in my role. I had held GM / executive team positions and hated how many meetings that entailed which were mostly posturing and politicking! I really enjoy operational day-to-day legal support – getting stuff done, contracts signed and working, disputes resolved and easier processes in place.
“I had observed working for larger businesses that often the subbies and sub-suppliers did not have any legal support and were quite exposed as a result.”
My kids were at the end of primary school and the list of sports and outside school activities was growing – I didn’t want to be the parent that said no to those activities so … I jumped and set up a blended portfolio of part-time contract work plus my own portfolio of clients that I serve flexibly. This meant I could coach my daughter’s netball team, walk the dog more often and take my son to circus training which is really special.
7. What’s been a highlight (and one challenge) since setting up for yourself?
Highlight has been getting back to basics with small business clients, providing access to legal services that I think they struggled to find previously. Some of the clients have approached me because I was on the other side of deals when I worked for the larger companies, it is nice to be on their side now. Challenge has been managing work loads sometimes – there are ebbs and flows which can be hard to predict.
8. Do you have any tips for lawyers considering a similar career pivot to running their own firm?
Just do it - take the leap and see how it goes. Network with others that are already doing it and take the elements that appeal to you and steer away from those that don’t.
I have found the blended approach of part-time roles (contract or longer-term) combined with own work is a great option for me as I enjoy the collegiate approach and social aspect (in non-pandemic times) of a workplace in just the right amount but I still have the flexibility outside of it AND I don't seem to be stuck in many management meetings anymore!
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Sally is available now to provide you with legal support: quick commercial contract reviews, drafting and negotiation across the full spectrum of commercial contracts – feel free to get in touch with us .