Contracting as a lawyer gives me true liberty at work

Unquestionably we are experiencing times which humanity has never seen for the last 100 years and hopefully we will not see again any time soon. 

Millions of people have been at the edge of unemployment globally and those who are lucky enough to preserve their current roles are now experiencing more and more the concept of flexible working (or working from home). 

Self-isolation created a new trend on flexible ways to work. What used to be the exception of traditional working standards now seems to have become a new obligatory way of working. Employees now have to adhere to the State’s instructions to self-isolate and maintain social distancing allowing them to work remotely. 

By definition, flexible working has multiple meanings. Current developments in usage by employers, often includes a range of contractual variations (temporary work; fixed-term; or even part time contracts etc). In a world where everyone complained about the lack of personal time, flexible working often is a good solution. 

I completed my LLB and LLM studies in Law and International Business Law respectively and qualified as a French Lawyer in 2015. From my first days as a trainee in Monaco, I soon realised that lawyers have to comply with non-regular working patterns. This became even more clear when I decided to practise law in Greece in a boutique law firm in the city of Athens. Shortly after, I realised the importance of working on a flexible schedule, agenda and clientele. 

Subsequently, I moved to London, and I soon decided to become a contractor allowing myself to choose my future projects, rates, workload and the time I would spend in a workspace for each project. This allowed me to discover multiple roles as a commercial legal counsel within some of the biggest companies in the world and add them as clients in my repertoire, as well as making new friends and meeting excellent professionals in the legal sector. 

In addition, the variety of services across different industries allow a great amount of training and the absorption of a great deal of valuable information often not so accessible to full time permanent employees. Therefore, in a matter of months I was able to leverage information from industries such as Fin-tech, Oil & Gas, Maritime, and Commercial Real Estate from some of the biggest players of each industry respectively as well as multiple jurisdictions (France, Monaco, Greece and London). Through that, I was given the opportunity to further extend the field of my specialisation on Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution in the U.K. 

Never before have I experienced the liberty to be the master of my own self professionally, equipping me with the possibility of choosing the conditions of my employment in comparison to other types of employees and most importantly providing me the feeling of true liberty at work. 

I would highly recommend flexible working especially in these times of uncertainty which could potentially provide the ideal environment for employees who do not want to be tied by long term professional obligations. In addition, I cannot praise enough the assistance of F-LEX who during this long period have always been able to assist me in my job search, more than their competitors but also by their humane side and genuine interest, during the recent pandemics events. In critical times such as these, this is what matters the most. 

Vasilis, F-LEX Lawyer