The Flex Legal story
:format(webp)/f/91079/1200x1200/4c6abc623e/mary-1-colour-1.png "Mary Bonsor, CEO of Flex Legal")
2016 - The beginning: supporting law students and paralegals
"I remember walking around the city while I was doing the GDL and the LPC, desperate for work. Eventually, I managed to find work experience as a secretary for a shipping arbitrator, but it wasn’t easy to get there.
"Fast forward a few years and I was a qualified solicitor working in litigation. I was facing an imminent court deadline with forty huge bundles to make. I remember sitting at my desk and looking out of the window, and seeing a group of Kaplan law students exactly where I had been a few years ago. I knew from experience that those students would have jumped at the chance to get legal work experience, and I knew associates like myself were desperate for their help. Suddenly, the idea for Flex Legal was born."
Shortly after, Mary met James, an experienced software developer, and knew he could help make her dream a reality. James become Co-Founder of Flex and they began working together on a tech platform that could connect law students to law firms and in-house teams as efficiently as possible. They analysed what was taking too long in traditional recruitment, and how they could use tech to make it easier.
:format(webp)/f/91079/1600x900/d5fe08836c/website-image-apply-slide-1600-x-900-px.png "Apply to Flex Legal")
2019 - The launch of Flex Lawyers
After a successful first three years, Mary and James shifted Flex's focus from solely providing paralegal opportunities, and began to work on onboarding interim lawyers onto our platform too. Determined to tackle the industry’s notoriously poor work/life balance, Flex aims to give lawyers the opportunity to take back control of their career through flexible, interim work.
:format(webp)/f/91079/1200x1200/37745badac/flex-trainees-all-cohorts-2023-2.png "Flex Trainees - all cohorts October 2023")
2021 - The creation of our groundbreaking SQE social mobility scheme, Flex Trainee
In 2021, after learning about the key changes that the new SQE route would bring to the legal industry, Mary came up with the idea for Flex Trainee, an SQE training scheme designed to help socially mobile aspiring lawyers break into law.
Flex Trainee helps us to take our mission to make the legal industry more diverse, inclusive, and flexible for all a step further. A scheme which has been created to support talented, aspiring lawyers gain Qualifying Work Experience through the new SQE route.
To date, we are proud to have placed over 60 trainees within the in-house legal teams of organisations such as Vodafone, ASOS, Trustpilot, The Crown Estate and Diageo.
:format(webp)/f/91079/4032x3024/b1944a2923/img_2722-1.jpg "Flex Trainee cohort 8")
2023 - The creation of CoSec Trainee
After the successful launch of Flex Trainee we knew there was an opportunity to provide a similar career launchpad for underrepresented company secretaries.
CoSec Trainee was born, helping graduates and professionals looking to enter the exciting and increasingly important world of corporate governance.
2024 - Flex Legal acquired by Mishcon de Reya LLP
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In January 2024 Flex Legal was acquired by MDR ALS (Holdings) Limited, a subsidiary of the London-based international law firm Mishcon de Reya LLP. Flex has continued to operate entirely autonomously, with no change to the services we provide or the work we do with our clients.
Flex Legal was Mishcon de Reya's first investment in the alternative legal services market. Three new directors from MDR ALS (Holdings) Limited sit on the board of Flex Legal - Matt Hotson (Mishcon de Reya's COO) - Nick West (Mishcon de Reya's Chief Strategy Officer) and Neville Eisenberg (Mishcon de Reya's Senior Strategy Executive.
Day to day we are all still entirely focused on our mission to become the biggest and best alternative legal resourcing company out there, enabling and inspiring the legal workforce of the future.
2025 - The launch of our AI-powered trainees and lawyers
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Solidifying our position as a forward-thinking ALSP, Flex Legal launched a critical initiative with First AI to embed cutting-edge Microsoft Copilot AI training across our network.
This high-value up-skilling for our Flex Trainees and Flex Lawyers is our commitment to building a smarter, more efficient legal profession. Early successes confirmed this investment is key to delivering superior, AI-enhanced value and time savings for every client.