Following his successful Flex secondment, James came on board as a Senior Associate at MinterEllison, where he continues to build his technology law expertise.
Why Flex?
When James joined Flex, he was looking for a change and felt that Flex could provide the support of a top tier law firm with long term project work. A Flex secondment came up to work as a technology lawyer at Zurich on an M&A integration project, utilising James' specialist skills and providing the opportunity for him to build relationships with senior leaders in the client business as well as with MinterEllison's Technology team.
During the Flex secondment, James worked on both long term big projects and newer projects in visual transformation for the Zurich business, which provided both the opportunity to work in new developing technology areas as well.
James believes that it is invaluable being able to communicate in the language of the different parts of a client's business, which has ensured James can bring confidence and leadership to his client communications now he is in private practice. When James joined MinterEllison this year he felt more confident in his skills and judgment, which he credits to his Flex experience:
"The nature of Flex secondments tend to be more senior roles where technical expertise is valued and required, so it gives lawyers an opportunity to both fill the senior position in the business as well as develop and learn from relationships with a wide range of people including senior executives in that business over time. I think that all helps you develop both your own skills and confidence as a lawyer, but also your ability to communicate effectively with high level executive teams and other key stakeholders."
Top tier legal support
One of the benefits of a Flex secondment, according to James, is being able to extend yourself in a senior legal role and being able to back your own abilities while being able to call on additional support when you need it.
The Flex team support you as much as you need to be supported, so you know that they will check in and ask how things are going and have your back.”
James Walton
In addition to the dedicated Flex support team, a key part of the Flex model is to ensure lawyers have the support of an assigned partner who is a specialist in the relevant area the lawyer will be working in. For James when he was on his Zurich role, it was Technology & Data Partner, Nick Pascoe. Nick and James had an initial phone call to get to know each other, ensuring that James understood what was available for him and it made him feel like he could reach out to Nick and the team if he needed help with anything, such as a legal precedent. Nick's support made James feel like part of a bigger team.
Flex lawyers truly are an extension of our team and I think it is critical that they have the resources of our firm at their disposal to ensure our clients receive the best MinterEllison experience during Flex secondments.”
Nick Pascoe
Being able to obtain a broader legal experience working on longer term inhouse projects, while being an extension of a top tier law firm was important to James. He advocates that there are a number of advantages to Flex for many different lawyers at different career stages and Flex secondments can provide many professional development extension opportunities.
