Flex

MinterEllison Flex is our fully integrated, on-demand contract lawyer business, giving our clients and their in-house legal teams the confidence to be agile.

In FY17, Flex has grown to become a leading provider of top tier legal talent using this model. Our national pool of top tier talented lawyers continues to grow - both in diversity of capability as well as experience. The extraordinary growth achieved by Flex in its first full year of operation is testament of the value it provides our clients.

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Genworth chooses MinterEllison Flex

When one of their lawyers headed off on parental leave, it seemed the perfect opportunity for Genworth to try MinterEllison's Flex program.

Prudence Milne, Genworth General Counsel and Company Secretary, talks about Genworth's experience with one of our Flex lawyers, Lara James.

We regularly use MinterEllison for legal advice, particularly around employment law and one of the partners we work with suggested we take a look at Flex.

In the past we have used secondees, so this was something quite different and we were curious to see how it worked. We got in touch with MinterEllison, sent over our job requirements, and almost immediately they came back to us with lawyers they thought would fit us.

Lara, our Flex lawyer has worked in both private practice and in-house, and had the right litigation, process issues, and customer contracts and resourcing procurement experience. She’s a fantastic lawyer, and the whole process has been a seamless, pleasurable experience.

In using a Flex lawyer, you know they have the support of a large leading firm behind them. We are also able to dial up and dial down the services as needed, and that flexibility is very convenient. 

We spoke to lawyer, Lara James about her experience as a Flex lawyer

Why did you come to Flex?

Flex is a business model that suits my own need to work flexibly and my desire to contribute my skills across a broad range of industries.

I wanted to align myself with a solution that helps address the shifting legal service landscape. Clients have new needs and expectations, and I believe the innovation and convenience Flex offers will deliver exceptional service to clients, and lawyers like myself.

What’s the biggest benefit for lawyers involved in Flex?

The opportunity to immerse myself within a client environment and to form part of an in-house team has provided me with an incredible opportunity to gain insights into our clients’ operations and their strategic challenges and imperatives. 
It’s very satisfying to see your contribution make a positive impact. The diversity of clients and industries that I’ve been able to support has made the experience even more rewarding.

How does MinterEllison support you as a Flex lawyer?

The Flex team are terrific at matching me to particular clients, because they take the time to understand my experience, skills and career goals, as well as the more practical aspects of being a flexible contractor, such as work location or availability.

I like that ongoing training opportunities are made available and I am encouraged to seek the advice of my colleagues with subject matter expertise to broaden what I can offer. When on secondment I’m fully supported to provide the best possible service to the client, and when I’m between secondments I’m kept up-to-date with upcoming projects.

What makes a good Flex lawyer?

The ability to quickly get up-to-speed with an industry and a client’s operations, and to build strong internal stakeholder relationships. Make yourself accessible, embrace your curiosity, communicate effectively, and act as a member of the team - not an outside advisor. The more effort you make to reach out, the more information that you have about a client’s operations and its commercial goals, the more readily you will gain the client’s respect by advising in a concise, nuanced and commercially meaningful way.

Interested in becoming a Flex lawyer?

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