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Gowling WLG is an international law firm with over 1,500 legal professionals across 19 different cities.  Flex Legal first began helping Gowling WLG back in 2017 when they faced unprecedented peaks of work due to multiple large cases heading to Court and staff maternity leave.

Since the introduction, Flex Legal has provided 56 paralegals to Gowling WLG for both peaks of work and large projects they have needed assistance with. This has included work in Gowling WLG’s Real Estate, Litigation, Commercial and Corporate teams. More recently, [Flex Legal paralegals](/hire/paralegals) have been assisting the Business Improvement team and helping them test and improve the firm’s document review AI. Several of the paralegals have moved from a temporary basis through Flex Legal to a permanent position at the firm. This has been a fantastic measurement of how well the candidates have fitted into Gowling WLG, and has provided a great pipeline of good quality resource.

[Mary Bonsor, CEO of Flex Legal](/team-members/mary-bonsor) said: “Gowling WLG has been a great partner to Flex Legal for several years now. It has been brilliant helping with such a wide range of practice areas and all of our paralegals have absolutely loved working for such a prestigious firm who really care about their training. They have all felt part of the team from the very beginning.”

**Additional Resources:**

* [Hire now](/hire/) - check out our ‘hire’ page to find the paralegals and lawyers you need.
* [Client FAQ’s](/client-faqs) - still unsure about what we do at Flex? Then visit our FAQ page which should hopefully answer all your questions. 
* [Lenovo Case Study](/blog/lenovo-and-flex-legal) - read all about how we provided Lenovo with a quick and simple solution to meet their immediate legal resourcing requirements.

Gowling case study

Gowling WLG case study

Contact Flex Legal

How Flex Legal helped Gowling WLG with flexible legal support

Flex Legal and Gowling WLG

Last month, we were fascinated by our monthly virtual GC event in collaboration with [LexisNexis](https://www.lexisnexis.co.uk/in-house-legal?utm_source=jnrlunch&utm_medium=FlexBlog&utm_campaign=Aspire) and [Radius Law](https://radiuslaw.co.uk/). The talk revolved around the rapidly approaching end of the Brexit ‘transition period’, and offered a broad breakdown of what businesses and law firms can expect moving forwards. A summary of the main points can be found [in this sizeable blog post](/blog/flying-solo-is-your-business-ready-for-brexit-).

However, last month’s meeting barely scratched the surface! The end of the Brexit transition period is a big topic, and presents a lot of fresh and interesting challenges to the UK legal industry. Fortunately, a second Brexit-themed event went ahead last week - and delved more deeply into three big areas; *Data Protection*, *Employment Law*, and *Contract Law*. We took feverish notes during the event, and broke each of these areas down into their own blog post.

This post will deal with Data Protection, and is based on information provided by speakers present in the call.

After the UK’s transition period ends, it’s data relationship with the EU will need redefining. This is, unfortunately, still a little unclear. The exact nature of future UK / EU relations will depend heavily on the presently ongoing negotiations - so watch this space.

What we do know, however, is that unless things change after the 31st of December the UK will be considered a ‘third country’ in terms of its relationship with the GDPR. This means that the UK will fall outside of the ‘GDPR zone’ - which will immediately restrict the data that can be passed between from the EU to the UK.

Under GDPR rules, each ‘third country’ outside of the ‘GDPR zone’ may undergo an adequacy assessment by the European Commission to determine whether that country has adequate data handling safeguards in place to maintain the free-flow of data. Think of this as a big data-based risk assessment.

We’re still awaiting this adequacy decision, and they do usually take a number of years to process, so businesses and legal teams should definitely audit their data flows now. If the UK does not receive a favourable adequacy decision, this will significantly impact dataflows from 01.01.21. Accordingly, UK businesses should assess their dataflows as soon as possible and prepare steps to mitigate the impacts of this.

In addition to this, UK businesses may want to consider the possibility of using [Standard Contractual Clauses](https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/international-dimension-data-protection/standard-contractual-clauses-scc_en) to transfer data to and from the EU. These are, most likely, the best and easiest option to transfer data between the UK and the EU whilst we await the results of the adequacy decision - which has been further complicated in light of the [Schrems II decision](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53418898). Fortunately, these are relatively straightforward and easy to fill out - and the Information Commissioner's office has produced [an interactive tool](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-at-the-end-of-the-transition-period/keep-data-flowing-from-the-eea-to-the-uk-interactive-tool/) to help you understand how to use them and how they apply to you.

You can read more about European Commission adequacy decisions [here on their website](https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/international-dimension-data-protection/adequacy-decisions_en).

Once the transition period has passed, and the UK is fully sovereign, it will no longer have to abide by GDPR regulations. Sounds simple, right? Not so fast.

To ease the UK into a new data protection regime, the UK will be incorporating large parts of existing GDPR legislation into its existing data protection law, in line with [the Data Protection Act 2018](Once the transition period has passed, and the UK is fully sovereign, it will no longer have to abide by GDPR regulations. Sounds simple, right? Not so fast.  To ease the UK into a new data protection regime, the UK will be incorporating large parts of existing GDPR legislation into its existing data protection law, in line with the Data Protection Act 2018. Think of it as a ‘UK version’ of GDPR. There are a number of changes that have been made, but these are largely superficial tweaks to make sure the UK’s version of GDPR works in a UK context. A fantastic explanation of this can be found in this LexisNexis PSL document.  Another crucial takeaway for businesses and legal teams is to consider who the new regulatory authorities will be for data handling. To this end, LexisNexis have produced a routinely-updated information guide on the current status of UK / EU data transfers under GDPR. Much of the UK’s data protection legislation will be handled by the Information Commissioner’s Office moving forwards. Whilst much of the legislation will remain the same - UK businesses will have to develop a new relationship with this new regulatory authority.   The ICO may operate differently to previous regulatory data authorities you have interacted with previously, so it will well worth familiarising yourself with their guidelines on post-transition period data protection. ). Think of it as a ‘UK version’ of GDPR. There are a number of changes that have been made, but these are largely superficial tweaks to make sure the UK’s version of GDPR works in a UK context. A fantastic explanation of this can be found in [this LexisNexis PSL document](https://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/lexispsl/informationlaw/document/393990/8W9N-MJ72-D6MY-P05D-00000-00/The_UK_General_Data_Protection_Regulation__UK_GDPR_).

Another crucial takeaway for businesses and legal teams is to consider who the new regulatory authorities will be for data handling. To this end, LexisNexis have produced [a routinely-updated information guide](https://www.lexisnexis.com/uk/lexispsl/informationlaw/document/393990/5SSC-5YK1-F18F-K1HF-00000-00/UK_GDPR_and_EU_GDPR_transfers_of_personal_data_internationally_and_to_international_organisations) on the current status of UK / EU data transfers under GDPR. Much of the UK’s data protection legislation will be handled by the Information Commissioner’s Office moving forwards. Whilst much of the legislation will remain the same - UK businesses will have to develop a new relationship with this new regulatory authority.

The ICO may operate differently to previous regulatory data authorities you have interacted with previously, so it will well worth familiarising yourself with [their guidelines on post-transition period data protection](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-at-the-end-of-the-transition-period/data-protection-at-the-end-of-the-transition-period/).

If you are a business based in the UK, but offering goods or service inside the European Economic Area (EEA) and processing the personal data of EEA residents, you will need a representative branch within the EU moving forwards. Not having one in place [could incur significant fines](https://gdpr.eu/fines/) -  so this is well worth thinking about sooner rather than later.

There’s still a lot more to consider, however. An EU representative must be appointed in writing, and will have to be explicitly authorised to act on your behalf when dealing with anything to do with EU GDPR. It goes without saying, but information about who this representative is and the nature of their role will need to be included in an updated version of your privacy notice.

So there you have it – an exhaustive breakdown of all the major sticking points facing the changing shape of Data Protection in the UK following Brexit. Hopefully you have found this information useful, and come away with at least a few things to consider!

As can be clearly seen above – there’s a lot that still needs to be prepared in a short space of time! If you’re interested in checking back in with the shifting legal sands after the end of the transition period, then we thoroughly encourage you to [register for January’s post-Brexit GC session using this link](http://pages.m.lexisnexis.co.uk/flying-solo/).

**Additional resources:**

* [The Financial Times: Brexit Articles](https://www.ft.com/brexit) - If you want to stay informed on the Brexit negotiations, you could do a lot worse than the FT. Their articles are comprehensive, detailed, and fairly impartial.
* [LexisNexis Brexit Tools](https://www.lexisnexis.co.uk/products/brexit-tools.html): Our friends at LexisNexis have compiled their Brexit-themed resources and tools, to help those in the legal industry cope with it’s shifting legal sands.
* [Gov.uk Transition Resources](https://www.gov.uk/transition): This government directory of transition period information is specifically tailored to help UK businesses prepare for the end of the transition period.

DATA UPON DATA

Get Ready for Brexit: The Future of  UK Data Protection

The Future of Data Protection: Get Ready For Brexit

Starting your legal career is the hardest part of the journey, and with current conditions, this has never been more true. To help those currently starting this journey, [Mary Bonsor](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-bonsor-8a270859/), co-founder and CEO of [Flex Legal](https://flex.legal/), and [Sophie Gould](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-gould-95832316/), Flex’s Head of Learning & Development, recently based one of [our monthly Virtual Lunches](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/flex-legal-23419765769) this topic, in order to hear from the experts what works and what doesn’t when it comes to applications and assessment days.

We were very pleased to be joined by [Angela Tang](https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelatanguk/), Innovation Consultant at a Magic Circle firm; [Oliver Searle](https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-searle-lawyer/), Senior In-house Counsel at Chevron Lubricants; [Amber Parslow](https://www.linkedin.com/in/amber-parslow-02a2b6108/), Co-Vice Chair of the London Young Lawyers Group and future trainee at Baker McKenzie; and [Harry Clark](https://www.linkedin.com/in/harryclarklaw/), Founder of the [More from Law](https://harryclarklaw.com/the-more-from-law-podcast/) podcast and future trainee at Baker McKenzie.

Depending on your current stage, it may seem like the route into law is a straightforward one: apply for vacation schemes at the start of your second year of law school, receive a training contract offer off the back of these, before heading straight into your LPC after you graduate. Although this works out for some, it is certainly not the only way into a legal career.

**For Amber, it was only after she graduated and attained some practical experience through a paralegal role that she felt it was the right time for her to excel at training contract interviews.**

“I went to university in 2014 and attended my first assessment centre in 2015. The whole process knocked my confidence - everyone there spoke well and was really confident, and I just felt like the odd one out. I graduated in 2016 and went travelling around America for two months. This helped my applications more than I realised because it allowed me to show my personality and interests in a unique way. I also worked at a legal recruitment firm for a few months which helped to develop my transferable skills like ringing clients, emailing, and organising my workload. I then got my first paralegal job through F-LEX, working in the Gherkin! This was great, but I found I had a lot of extra capacity, so I volunteered to take on the firm’s internal GDPR compliance project because I had an interest in data protection and privacy law. It was this experience that allowed me to secure a paralegal role at Baker McKenzie, which ultimately led to my training contract offer.”

**Similarly, Harry went through three rounds of vacation scheme and training contract applications before he was successful in securing his training contract at Baker McKenzie.**

“I made all sorts of application mistakes along the way and these are the reasons I’ve been trying to write about them publicly for the best part of a year now. One particular example I will give is during my initial rounds of applications, I had the terrible strategy of copying and pasting my answers onto various application forms. On one occasion I forgot to change the name of the firm, so the opening line was addressed to a different person at a completely different firm! I think I got that rejection back in about 24 hours! Of course, don’t do this, but in the bigger picture it is important to really tailor your application to the firm you are applying to. You shouldn’t be able to swap out the name of that firm with another.”

**Oliver’s experiences highlight the changes that have occurred during his time within the legal industry.**

“Diversity within the legal field is still something that we must work on and we still have a long way to go. However, in my workplace, I always feel I can bring my authentic self to work in a way that wasn’t possible in the past, so there is the capacity to change. The current situation can be unsettling in terms of security but it is important to remember that new roles are constantly being created with the increasing use of technology, so with a greater skill set, comes greater opportunity.”

**Although times are tough, Angela thinks that firms have learnt a lot from 2008.**

“The best law firms will continue with their graduate recruitment because they are completely aware of how valuable you are as an investment. I joined the legal sector after the last recession and from my perspective, law firms have learnt an awful lot. They know how to be more robust and more agile. A lot of the things firms learnt how to do more than a decade ago, they are simply doing again now, which I think is massively positive.”

**Tailor your applications:** You shouldn’t be able to swap out the name of the firm you are applying to with the name of another firm! If you can, it is unlikely that your application will impress. Consider the following: have you met the firm/its representatives? Do you know its core practice strengths? Trainee intake size? Seat rotations? Clients? Secondment opportunities? Values? Culture? It is important to understand these characteristics to determine whether the firm will complement your skillset and aspirations.

**Why commercial law?** Having a watertight answer to this is key, both during the written application stage and at interview. When a law firm offers you a training contract, they are investing in you. And like any investment, firms expect to see a return at some point in the future. However, if a trainee decides that commercial law isn’t for them during their training contract, the firm will never see a return on their initial investment. Convincing firms (and being certain yourself) that you want to pursue a commercial legal career, and the reasons why, is crucial to getting an offer. **So how do you do this?** Write a narrative that is personal to you. What piqued your interest? An open day at a firm? A module you studied at university? Then explain how you furthered your interest and consolidated your understanding: did you gain further work experience? Attend networking events? Having a genuine story about why you want to pursue commercial law will impress a lot more than your ‘excitement to work on cutting edge global deals’.

**Utilise your strengths:** You all have a specific set of superpowers - you just need to identify what your individual superpowers are. This has been particularly apparent to Oliver, who has found that his strengths lie in approaching problems from an empathetic and creative point of view. Also, consider how these strengths can add value to a law firm: drawing on a range of legal and non-legal experiences, as well as considering different perspectives, helps to create innovative solutions and makes you stand out as a candidate.

**Ask for constructive criticism:** This isn’t always easy, however understanding what went wrong from the firm’s perspective allows you to target this area for improvement. Also, never be afraid to simply lay your cards on the table! Mary was initially rejected from the firm she trained at, however was offered a training contract for the following year after contacting HR and explaining that she would be happy to wait. This won’t work out for everyone, but having the confidence to communicate with firms is a key skill.

**Commercial/current awareness:** This must be continually developed, and cannot be swotted overnight. Having a general understanding of how current affairs and the wider business sector is impacted is key to becoming the ‘trusted adviser’ that clients seek - and certainly key to impressing a firm. Consider subscribing to daily news digests like Finimize or listening to the FT News Briefing for quick updates, or better still, read a reputable broadsheet paper on a daily basis.

**Writing style:** Even if you have all of the above down to a tee, your application can be disregarded if you don’t communicate in a clear and concise manner. The person reading your application will likely have a large pile left to read after yours. Be kind to them - convey your point in simple terms and make sure every sentence adds value to your answer.

**Have an open mind about the type of law you want to pursue:** There are lots of different legal areas. Make sure to explore different departments outside of your vacation scheme/training contract seat. You won’t know if you want to pursue a type of law until you try it!

**Actively listen instead of waiting for your turn to speak:** It is easy to miss verbal/behavioural nuances when you aren’t paying proper attention.

**Always ask yourself how you can improve:** Even when you have been successful at something, consider how you can do it better next time.

**When asking for help, provide some possible solutions (even if you’re not sure they’re correct):** This shows the person you are asking that you have given proper thought to the problem and aren’t simply turning to them to take it off your hands.

**Keep a sense of perspective:** Just because you haven’t succeeded at this moment in time doesn’t mean that you won’t eventually, and be more resilient as a result. A year or two is a drop in the ocean when looking at the bigger picture of your legal career

**And most importantly, be yourself:** Don't change who you are because that one firm doesn’t think that you’ll fit their working culture. There is an employer who will value your exact skillset, you just need to find them and let them see your authentic self.

**Adaptability** - Especially in the current climate. Having candidates who are flexible and responsive to challenges is ideal for firms..

**Emotional Intelligence** - Empathetic nature and curiosity to drive innovation.

**Creativity** - Free thinking approach to problems which allows for innovative ideas to be developed.

**Entrepreneurialism** - Always thinking about how to elevate the business.

**Commercial understanding** - An understanding of how different sectors and current affairs impact clients.

**Collaboration** - Being able to work effectively within a team is an essential skill. Similarly, having the confidence to ask senior team members for help when necessary is key to working effectively.

**Additional resources:**

* [London Young Lawyers Group](https://lylg.org.uk/)
* [HarryClarkLaw](https://harryclarklaw.com/)
* [Radius Law Vlogs](https://radiuslaw.co.uk/blog/)
* [A-Z of Legal Innovation Jargon by Crafty Counsel](https://craftycounsel.co.uk/boxset/a-z-of-legal-innovation)
* [Strive Consultants](https://www.striveconsultants.co.uk/students)
* [Lexology](https://www.lexology.com/)

How Flex Legal helped Gowling WLG with flexible legal support

Get Ready for Brexit: The Future of UK Data Protection

How to kick-start your Legal Career