Welcome to our blog. We're on a mission to change the legal industry for the better. Browse our blog for industry insights, career tips, human stories and everything inbetween.

The Flex Legal blog

Welcome to our blog. We're on a mission to change the legal industry for the better. Follow our blog for industry insights, career tips, human stories, and everything in-between. Don't forget to sign up to our newsletter too!

The Flex Legal Blog

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Welcome to our blog. We're on a mission to make the legal industry more human and agile. Follow our blog for Flex Legal stories, industry news and views, and career tips. Don't forget to sign up to our newsletter too!

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## The Client: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is one of the world’s oldest law firms, operating in 150 countries across the globe. Over the decades, they have built valuable ties with leading national advisers in every market, giving them the connections needed to support their clients in the most effective way possible. They are entirely committed to delivering exceptional experiences for both their people and their clients, and this is what makes working with Freshfields so unique. The key difference is shaped by their three core values, which drive everything they do: embracing challenge, promoting collaborations; and redefining excellence. 

It’s no secret that the legal industry is undergoing rapid, transformative change; and so despite their well-renowned legacy, Freshfields are continuously taking steps to stay ahead of the curve by reinventing themselves and redesigning the way legal professionals work. Eager to maintain their ‘one-firm’ mindset by sharing knowledge and expertise across their multiple sites, the Freshfields Client Delivery Group has been designed to pair the latest technology with industry-leading, solution driven expertise and people. In practice, this means that despite being spread across multiple locations, specialist legal professionals, including lawyers, technologists, and process improvement experts, are equipped to collaborate with incredible efficiency on an incredibly large scale.

Freshfields’ Manchester Hub sits as a strategic part of the firm’s Client Delivery Group, operating globally in close collaboration with teams across Europe and Asia, in over 30 languages. Here, the Freshfields Legal Solution Specialists support on high value and large volume projects, including due diligence, document review, regulatory surveys, contract production, and legal analysis. The Hub’s key practice groups are: Dispute Resolution; Antitrust, Competition, and Trade; and Global Transactions. On a frequent basis, these teams need to meet tight deadlines for bespoke and often voluminous tasks, such as large scale document review involving tens of thousands of documents. This is where Flex’s on-demand resourcing comes in!

## The Challenge: Finding extra capacity and skills, quickly!

Since opening their Manchester Hub in 2017, Freshfields and Flex Legal have worked hand-in-hand to confidently navigate the ever-changing, sometimes challenging terrain of the legal sector together.

Putting the needs of Freshfields’ clients first, Flex Legal has worked hard to provide flexible, on-demand, interim support to this vibrant Northern office. Through this innovative partnership, we have successfully placed a huge 420+ paralegals across more than 60 projects at the firm. Whether it’s all hands on deck for urgent high volume work, or supporting a project requiring bilingual skills, Flex Legal is proud to deliver a straightforward comprehensive solution to fluid work-flows.

On the back of our strong relationship with the Manchester Hub, we are delighted to have also provided support to Freshfields’ London and New York legal teams on a huge array of projects. From document review projects and translation services, to marketing and business development analysis, we are always ready to go above and beyond to support Freshfields in delivering an industry-leading service.

## Our Solution: Temporary Legal Solution Specialists

The work carried out by our paralegals at Freshfields is incredibly fast-paced, and sometimes challenging, with thousands of documents requiring review over several weeks. Despite this, it’s crucial that our paralegals deliver work of the highest quality, whilst also getting the invaluable opportunity to be trained and supervised by the Hub leaders. The nature of the work means that it is suitable for entry level candidates who possess great levels of attention to detail, and previous experience with eDiscovery software is a bonus.

We carefully consider every application, and assess our paralegals’ legal knowledge and attention to detail before inviting them to build a profile. This way, we can make sure we are attracting top talent, and maintaining a diverse and skilled workforce. When the team at Freshfields find themselves in need of an extra pair of hands (or many!), the Private Practice Team at Flex Legal is ready to facilitate a quick and straightforward solution.

By carefully considering the needs of Freshfields, taking into account requirements such as previous legal experience, academic qualifications, and the skills of each of our paralegals, we quickly provide a shortlist tailored to each and every project. During the selection process, we perform enhanced background checks to ensure we are maintaining confidentiality and on their first day, members of our Manchester City Centre office will deliver our ‘Flexpecations’ presentation! In doing so, the team are able to troubleshoot any questions before they arise, and ensure that our team of paralegals are ready to hit the ground running. Being able to clearly communicate these finer details with our paralegals helps to facilitate a smooth start and provides them with the valuable opportunity to meet with their Flex point of contact in person.

## Outcome: 420 placements across more than 60 projects

We are confident in our abilities to adapt to our clients’ needs, and deliver a fantastic service across varying projects.

But don’t just take our word for it. We’ve spoken with [Rachael Miller](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachael-miller-b95882169/), the Operations Manager at the Freshfields Hub. Rachael very kindly shared her thoughts on the relationship:

*"Flex's pool of talent is exceptional, and every individual they’ve placed with us has brought value to our team. Many temps who have come in through Flex have been onboarded into permanent roles within the Freshfields Hub showing what excellent talent they have. They are always available to address concerns or questions, and they consistently follow up to ensure that everything is running smoothly.* 

*We also enjoy working with Flex due to the digital processes they have in place including the ability to see a temporary worker’s profile. These show the individual's work experience, qualifications, and includes a video recording of themselves which gives an insight to the individual.*

*Thanks to Flex, we’ve been able to seamlessly fill temporary roles with qualified professionals, allowing us to maintain productivity and meet our business objectives. We highly recommend Flex to any company seeking reliable and efficient temporary staffing solutions."*

We’ve also spoken with [James O’Brien](https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-p-obrien/), Global Manager at Freshfields. This is what he said: *"The Flex team are amazing. Their responsiveness is much appreciated, and they are indeed a valuable partner for us in maintaining the high levels of service delivery that our clients expect when they come to Freshfields."*

**Additional Resources:**

- [Hire now](https://flex.legal/hire/) - Want to follow in Freshfields footsteps and discover the benefits of interim resourcing? Get in touch to hire high-calibre paralegals and lawyers now.
- [Apply to be a Flex Paralegal/Lawyer](/apply/why-join) - If you want to open yourself up to a world of exciting interim legal work opportunities, then click here to read why you should apply to work through Flex Legal.
- [Kraft Heinz Case Study](https://flex.legal/blog/how-flex-legal-helped-kraft-heinz-meet-their-internal-targets) - Read all about how we helped Kraft Heinz to hire flexible, quality candidates during peak workloads and meet their internal targets.

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How Flex Paralegals support Freshfields' service delivery

In November 2022, Flex Legal embarked on a groundbreaking partnership with [Leigh Day](https://www.leighday.co.uk/), a top-100 law firm committed to claimant-only cases; specialising in national and international personal injury, human rights, clinical negligence, employment, and group claims. 

As a law firm which strives to provide access to justice for all and act on behalf of the voiceless, Flex Legal’s Northern team were delighted when they reached out to us with an urgent large-scale request for interim paralegals. But why did they suddenly need so many extra paralegals? And why did they decide to come to Flex?

## **The problem: quickly source high volume paralegal teams**

Leigh Day is committed to claimant-only cases, and ensuring that members of the public have the same access to justice as the UK Government and large corporations. The matters they pursue are done so with this overarching mission in mind.

Leigh Day had undertaken several large [multi-party action projects](https://www.leighday.co.uk/our-services/group-claims/vehicle-emissions/), which would see them investigate various leading vehicle manufacturers who were accused of fitting 'defeat' devices to their vehicles to cheat the EU and UK emissions laws. With these large class action projects underway, Leigh Day needed paralegals who could oversee the precise acquisition of considerable amounts of information and instructions from thousands of clients, whilst meticulously maintaining accurate records throughout the process.

They initially approached Flex Legal with an ambitious plan to drastically scale up their litigation teams across their Manchester and Leeds offices. The responsibilities of the paralegals would be wide ranging, and would encompass document drafting, client liaison through interviews and instruction-taking. This would necessitate a keen eye for detail, as well as proactive adaptability to meet the needs of Leigh Day and their client base. On top of this, Leigh Day expressed an explicit desire for all prospective paralegals to be closely aligned with the core values of the firm.  
  
Obviously, sourcing paralegals at such a scale would be an enormous undertaking, especially given the tight timeframes imposed by multiple class-action projects being run simultaneously. The HR team at Leigh Day found themselves in need of third party support to deliver such a high-volume of paralegals in the required timeframe... 

**Flex Legal’s on-demand support was the perfect solution.**

## **The solution: outsource paralegal recruitment to Flex Legal**

After consulting with Leigh Day, we proposed a solution: Flex Legal would provide a carefully-curated online shortlist of pre-vetted paralegals, all ready to start work as soon as they were needed. The paralegals would join Leigh Day on temporary assignments before transferring over permanently, following a successful six month placement. By handling the end-to-end recruitment steps such as talent attraction, vetting, selection and onboarding, Flex Legal could free up Leigh Day’s internal team to focus on more strategic work.

Armed with seven years’ experience of placing large numbers of legal professionals within overstretched teams, Flex’s northern team felt confident in our ability to find the perfect pool of candidates. However, recognising the unprecedented scale of the project, we adapted and upscaled our existing processes to meet Leigh Day’s specific requirements. 

Some key modifications were mutually agreed upon. This included all prospective paralegals undergoing Leigh Day's specific internal tests, as well as aligning pay and workplace benefits with comparator paralegals from day one. The Flex team also devised in person ‘Flex-pectation’ visits for the first day of each paralegal tranche’s first day. This was an interactive presentation, whereby each new starter could meet the Flex team and be taken through key payroll details, workplace expectations from both Flex and Leigh Day, and anything else that needed ironing out before placements commenced.

## **The impact: faster growth, increased diversity and more time back**

At the time of writing, Flex Legal has successfully integrated a large pool of our paralegals into Leigh Day’s Manchester and Leeds offices, who have played a crucial role in facilitating the smooth execution of Leigh Day’s multi-party vehicle emissions claim. 

**Rapid Firm Growth:** During the project’s lifecycle, Leigh Day has experienced huge double digit headcount growth, **50%** of which is as a direct result of the integration efforts of Flex Legal’s talent pool. 

**Saving Teams’ Time:** At Flex, we were responsible for the marking of the pre-onboarding tests, as well as all employment references and conflict checks. Our team collaborated closely with Leigh Day’s HR department throughout this process, ensuring that they were well informed of our progress and were prepared to handle the demands of an increased workforce. In essence, Flex Legal’s northern team functioned as an extension of Leigh Day’s HR function - allowing them to focus their efforts elsewhere.

**Increased Diversity:** The paralegals provided by Flex Legal were sourced from a huge range of social and academic backgrounds. As of August 2023, the Flex Legal talent pool is 59% female, 52.8% BAME, and 79.4% state school educated. This aligns directly with [Leigh Day’s core principles of diversity and inclusion](https://www.leighday.co.uk/diversity-inclusion-at-leigh-day/).

Our collaboration with Leigh Day is emblematic of Flex’s ability to successfully navigate large-scale, complicated resourcing projects. Throughout the duration of the project, our commitment to client satisfaction and our capacity for adaptability has remained integral. Leigh Day have been able to meet the increased demands of several simultaneous large litigation projects, and many paralegals in the north west have been granted the chance to experience first-hand work with a leading law firm.

**Additional resources:**

* [Hire a Flex paralegal](/hire/paralegals) - If reading this case study has you scratching your chin, wondering if hiring a Flex paralegal is a good idea, then why not learn more? Click the link to get the ball rolling.
* [How Saad went from Flex Paralegal to Flex Trainee](/blog/how-saad-went-from-flex-paralegal-to-flex-trainee) - Paralegals working through Flex don’t stay that way forever. Some of them graduate onto the Flex Trainee scheme, just like Saad did. Read more!
* [Apply to be a Flex paralegal](/apply/) - Are you interested in interim paralegal opportunities? Flex Legal is here for you! Submit your CV today and apply to the platform.

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How Leigh Day scaled their litigation team using Flex Legal

In the modern litigation landscape, group litigators are confronted with two conflicting challenges. Firstly, how do they ensure that case management is carried out to a high standard? Secondly, how do they run day-to-day case management as cost effectively as possible?

We have extensively consulted with seasoned litigators across the sector, and firmly believe that interim resourcing is the best solution to juggling the conflicting priorities of quality vs cost effectiveness. In our new report, full of practical guidance for group litigators both old and new, we outline precisely how to turbocharge your litigation project with interim resourcing.

Download the report, entirely for free, here:

READ THE REPORT

## What is included in the report?

* Guidance on maintaining high work standards at a low cost.
* Explorations of the long term cost benefits of interim resourcing.
* Practical advise on getting the best results from interim hires.
* Easily digestible, actionable information.

**Additional Resources:** 

* [REPORT: The Art of Group Litigation - A masterclass in group litigation best practice.](/the-art-of-group-litigation) Litigation work is complex, sometimes more akin to an art than a science. In this hands-on report, we consult two highly experienced litigators for their guidance on running group litigation matters effecitvely.
* [REPORT: Litigation Funding - What good looks like.](/litigation-funding-what-good-looks-like) We consulted with litigation funders, Therium, for their advice on applying for litigation funding. You’ll never see litigation funding in the same light!

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Why interim hires are perfect for litigation projects

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

Flex Legal has been supporting Dentons LLP, the world’s largest law firm by headcount since 2018. We caught up with Ben, Denton’s resourcing manager, to learn why flexible resourcing is important and how the partnership with Flex Legal has worked.

The Flex Legal blog

How Flex Paralegals support Freshfields' service delivery

How Flex Legal helped Gowling WLG with flexible legal support

How Leigh Day scaled their litigation team using Flex Legal

Why Dentons, the world's largest law firm, uses Flex Legal

Why interim hires are perfect for litigation projects