The Flex Legal blog

The journey to legal qualification is often viewed as a rigid, high-pressure path through private practice firms. But for Ghazhal Noory, a member of the very first Flex Trainee cohort, the ‘standard’ route didn't feel like the right fit. By choosing the in-house qualification route with Flex Legal and The Crown Estate, Ghazhal not only accelerated her career but conquered the self-doubt that often plagues aspiring lawyers. Now a Legal Counsel at Connells Group, Ghazhal shares her journey from aspiring lawyer to qualified solicitor.

There's nothing we love more than highlighting the fantastic work of our paralegals, lawyers and trainees. This month we were thrilled to have a chat with Asad, a Flex paralegal working as a Litigation Executive for a Top 500 law firm. Take a read to hear all about his experience!

Freshfields is one of the world's' oldest firms, operating in over 150 countries worldwide. Flex Legal's Manchester Hub sits as a strategic part of their Client Delivery Group, and has made over 420 placements with the firm. We recently caught up with Diana and Yeelen, two Flex paralegals who have both worked at the firm. Here's what they had to say about the experience.

There's nothing we love more than highlighting the fantastic work of our paralegals, lawyers and trainees. This month we were thrilled to have a chat with Diana, a multilingual LLB Law Graduate, who has worked through Flex at magic circle law firm, Freshfields. Take a read to hear all about her experience!

In November 2022, Flex Legal embarked on a groundbreaking partnership with top-100 law firm Leigh Day. They came to us with an urgent large-scale request for interim northern paralegals... but why did they suddenly need so much extra support? And why did they decide to come to Flex?

When the University of York's complaints team found themselves staring down an insurmountable backlog, they urgently needed support. Fortunately, Flex paralegals were drafted in and helped them meet their problems head on. Read how it all went down!

We absolutely love shining a spotlight on our stand-out paralegals. This time, we were delighted to have a chat with Anastasios, a bilingual paralegal. After flourishing on a law firm placement through Flex, Anastasios is now thriving again at Summize, an innovative legal tech company. Here's what he has to say about working through Flex Legal!

For our final Paralegal Spotlight of the year, we’re absolutely delighted to shine a light on Rhea Kamath. As a future trainee, Rhea was on the lookout for some valuable experience which could help her to hit the ground running for her TC. Here's how it all went!

Legal ops is the latest buzz word on every lawyers' lips, but what does it actually mean? And why is it so important? We were lucky enough to recently be joined by Beejal Patel, Legal Systems Manager at Diageo, at our latest Junior Lawyer Lunch. Take a read of this blog summary to learn all about the rise in legal ops!

We're delighted to announce that the latest Flex paralegal we'd like to place a spotlight on is the wonderful Jack Enright, who has made such an incredible impression during his long-standing litigation placement at Provenio that he's now secured a permanent role there. Read this blog to hear all about his experience of using Flex!

We're delighted to announce that the latest Flex paralegal we'd like to place a spotlight on is the wonderful multilingual GDL graduate, Tiffany Tang, who has made an incredible impression during her placement at Tensar. Read this blog to hear all about her experience of using Flex.

In association with LexisNexis, For this instalment of our Junior Lawyer Lunch sessions, we are absolutely thrilled to be joined by the notorious Peter Watson, CEO of Watson's Daily! It should be a fantastic session that will leave you better equipped to conduct effective commercial research.

Marciano has been working as an interim paralegal through Flex Legal since October 2020. We’re so proud of the fantastic work he has carried out at various top law firms through Flex, and so we had a quick chat with him to discuss his journey so far and to see what advice he'd give to any other aspiring legal professionals.

In association with LexisNexis, for May's Event, our very own Sabina Gabrielczyk, Account Management Associate at Flex, will be joined by Maaike de Bie, GC and Company Secretary at easyJet, for an exclusive fireside chat.

For International Women's Day 2022, we had a chat with some of the fabulous female interim lawyers on our platform to ask them why law, why interim and what advice they'd give to any aspiring female legal professionals who wish to progress in the industry.

We ask all our paralegals for feedback on their placements, and when it’s lovely - we love to share it! We’ve taken the time to pull together some of our fave examples - take a look to see what they think about interim legal work through Flex.

Kiran Radhakrishnan is Head of Norton Rose Fulbright's Newcastle Hub, and NRF Transform (EMEA). He sits down with Mary Bonsor to discuss legal trainee schemes, how they're looking to shape the industry, and the opportunities and challenges ahead of them.

Book a place at February's Junior Lawyer Lunch Event. This is a continuation of our Junior Lawyer Virtual Lunches, which offer industry insights, professional tips and networking opportunities.

If you're isolating, recovering or relaxing this winter, Flex Legal is here to help. We’ve rounded up our top 10 legal films and TV series to keep you entertained, motivated and inspired.

We're delighted to announce that our POTM for November 21 is the wonderful Sarah Bamidele! Sarah has excelled during numerous Flex placements at Centrica, McEvedys and Allen & Overy. Hear all about her experience in this blog post.

The legal industry is at its best when it reflects the people it serves. This is why law firms are being pressured to attract more diverse legal professionals, and the SQE will hopefully help solve that problem. But can the SQE meaningfully affect diversity in the industry? Find out here.

COVID-19 showed us more than ever how important it is to bring people together. On the back of the success of our Junior Lawyer Virtual Lunches and Senior In-house Counsel Sessions, we will be hosting our first ever Northern In-house Event next month.

Law firms aren't just places where the rule of law is argued for, they are also businesses. Each law firm needs to operate profitably, and everyone in the firm plays their part in this. Learn how law firms work as a business here!

With the SQE examinations rapidly approaching, it's wise to be thinking about the flexibility of the QWE requirements on offer. Read this article to learn more about your QWE, and how to get the most out of your SQE qualification!

Our June 2021 Paralegal of the Month is the joculary Jamie Bluff! Jamie is a Future Trainee Solicitor, who has been working as a paralegal through Flex Legal to accrue some more legal experience. Read more about Jamie's career and Flex experiences here!

The Flex Legal Journal only launched in May, but it's already seen 25,000 Qualifying Work Experience hours logged! What what two young SQE hopefuls think about the Flex Legal Journal here.

Everyone knows that behind every good lawyer, is a good paralegal. Flex have connected thousands of paralegals to busy legal teams since our inception, and there's no shortage of ways they've helped. Take a read of the definitive A - Z of paralegal tasks.

Read Massimiliano's breakdown of paralegal working through Flex, how he landed a job with Freshfields following a Flex placement, and even some advice for those looking to break into legal roles themselves!

We were delighted to welcome Sarah Hunt, Neil Campbell and Emma O’Connor as guest speakers at our latest Virtual Lunch in collaboration with LexisNexis and Crafty Counsel. Sarah is Head of People Development at Osborne Clarke; Neil is Managing Legal Counsel at RBS; and Emma is a Talent Development Manager at Dentons. The topic for the call centred around the key skills that junior lawyers need to succeed, with the speakers drawing on their own experiences to offer excellent insights to attendees.

We are delighted to announce that our very own Jamie Roberts has secured a training contract in Osborne Clarke’s London Office, commencing September 2022! Jamie is an Associate in our Bookings Team, and was previously our Paralegal of the Month for December 2019 having completed several placements through F-LEX before joining the HQ team. Jamie is a prime example of hard work and a commitment to the legal industry paying off, and we wanted to share his journey to a training contract!

Securing a training contract can be a long and difficult process, however determination pays off…and we have proof! We recently caught up with Umar Jamil, future trainee at Macfarlanes LLP, to hear about his training contract journey and how F-LEX helped him along the way.

In the spotlight today, we have Sarita, a rising star in the legal world and a nominee for the Next 100 Years: Women in Law Rising Star of the Year 2025 award. Now a Legal Counsel at National Grid, Sarita’s journey through the Flex Trainee scheme is a testament to determination and the value of non-traditional qualification routes. We recently spoke with Sarita about her path, her experience with Flex Legal, and the monumental shift the scheme represents for the legal industry.

Back in December 2023, BLME sought Flex Legal’s help to support their talented Legal Assistant, Chloe Foster. After two years at a BLME subsidiary, Chloe was eager to advance her legal career, and the Flex Talent Development model offered the perfect solution. Read on to discover more about this innovative partnership.

Following the success of a legal internship scheme aimed at diverse aspiring lawyers, Adrian Morris, Group General Counsel at Tesco, was keen to further explore this untapped pool of talent. Flex Trainee offered the perfect solution - a scheme designed to improve social mobility across the profession. Take a read to see how we took individuals from the shop floor on their way to legal qualification.

In November 2022, Flex Legal embarked on a groundbreaking partnership with top-100 law firm, Leigh Day. We recently caught up with Eddy and Derin, two Flex paralegals who have both worked at Leigh Day, to delve into their experiences and gain an insight into how this collaboration has helped them on their legal journeys.

Our Commercial Development Scheme is a revolutionary means of offering law grads practical work experience at the commercial heart of Flex HQ. This article explores the myriad benefits of the scheme, and features direct input from our beloved CDS graduates.

There's nothing we love more than highlighting the fantastic work of our paralegals, lawyers and trainees. This month we were thrilled to have a chat with Daniyal, a multilingual LLB Law Graduate, who has worked on multiple Flex placements, from Huel to Freshfields. Take a read to hear all about his experience!

At Flex Legal, we absolutely love bringing communities of legal professionals together. Our Junior Lawyer Lunches are a great example of this, and this year we’re proud to have had over 1,000 attendees throughout our events. For anyone looking for a quick recap, here’s a rundown of all our sessions throughout 2022!

It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic was a huge catalyst for change. Two years later and hybrid working has become an established part of the ‘new normal’. In our latest virtual lunch event, we explored how junior lawyers can best navigate this new way of working. Take a read for our top takeaways.

For our latest Junior Lawyer Lunch, we were joined by ESG experts, Simone Davidson, Head of LexisPSL Environment, and Simon Colvin, Partner at Weightmans. Here's a summary of their valuable insight into why ESG should be important to junior lawyers and how you can make a real difference.

At Flex Legal, we truly understand how competitive the legal industry can be for aspiring lawyers, and how draining it is sending out hundreds of CV’s a week, only to receive piles of rejections in return. Take a read of this blog post for our top tips on how to ensure your CV stands out from the crowd, for all the right reasons!

For the last instalment of our Junior Lawyer Lunches, we were joined by the notorious Peter Watson, CEO of Watson's Daily. Here are his top tips on how to effectively improve and hone your commercial awareness.

Rebecca has been working as an interim lawyer through Flex Legal since January. We had a quick chat with her to discuss how interim working has drastically improved her work/life balance, and to see what advice she’d give to any aspiring lawyers.

Every paralegal who applies to Flex Legal needs to complete an onboarding interview. This post covers what to expect from the interview itself, as well as what you should take care of before and after the interview.

In association with LexisNexis, for our April Junior Lawyer Lunch Event Tarun Tawakley, Partner at Lewis Silkin, and Chloe Mason-Williams, Head of Legal at EDF Energy, will be helping you to understand what it means to be commercial as a lawyer.

In association with The Law Society and LexisNexis, for our March Junior Lawyer Lunch Event we'll be hosting a panel of senior lawyers to listen to what you as junior lawyers feel about the culture and ethics of the legal industry currently.

Do you want your work to be featured on our blog? We'd love for you to submit written pieces to us so we can raise your profile in the industry. Our guidelines and rules for submission are listed here in full!

Are you keen to gain some paralegal experience but still feel unsure about flexible interim work? Let us dispel your worries and read our top 5 reasons for law graduates to join Flex Legal today.

Legal job interviews are terrifying affairs riddled with intimidating questions. But they don't have to be! Here's our comprehensive guide on giving good answers in legal job interviews.

Alice Stephenson is a fearless challenger to the legal status quo, and we were delighted to welcome her to the Humans of Law podcast. Alongside Mary Bonsor, she discusses battling online trolls and shaping the future of the legal profession.

We're thrilled to have hosted our first ever northern in-house event earlier this month, with talks on the flexible approach to new talent, key skills to succeed, and mental health & wellbeing in law. Read this blog post to find out more about our brand new northern community!

We're delighted to announce that our POTM for October 2021 is the wonderful Jasper Sannes! Jasper has excelled during numerous Flex placements at Centrica, Freshfields and Norton Rose Fulbright. Hear all about his experience in this blog post.

How can you tell if a company is truly environmentally and socially responsible from the outside? We addressed this in our latest Virtual Lunch, with Victoria Ferguson, GC at MMC Ventures, and Sung-Hyui Park, Senior Associate at Bates Wells.

When you're a junior in the legal industry, it can be daunting to make sense of the hierarchies at work within them. Fortunately, we've broken law firm structures down into an easily digestible guide. Have a read!

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.

We were recently asked: “How do I secure a paralegal role without any law firm experience nor the LPC?” The simple answer is: it will be tricky. However, we have set out some clear steps you can take below to build your experience and really make your applications stand out.

Supervisors are now able to confirm Qualifying Work Experience on the Flex legal Journal! The service offers supervisors or COLPs the means to easily fulfil their responsibilities to SQE hopefuls.

Networking is critically important part of any professional journey. The sooner you start doing it, the better. This post explores how to successfully network and make valuable contacts in the age of remote working.

George Devine recently secured his Training Contract with Addleshaw Goddard, which he obtained off the back of a paralegal placement through Flex Legal. In this continuation of our Training Contract series, George shares his experiences to date, and offers some great insights on securing a Training Contract.

We are thrilled to announce that Tyler Felix, a Flexer who onboarded with us in 2018, has accepted a training contract at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner commencing September 2021! Tyler has been a fantastic ambassador for Flex Legal over the years and is also September’s Paralegal of the Month. How timely! We are delighted to have played a small role in Tyler’s success and wanted to share her journey with you.

We are delighted to crown Sam Sykes as our Paralegal of the Month for August! This is a fantastic achievement and recognises the great work Sam has been doing over the last year. Although the pandemic is continuing to impact our usual filming process, we are so pleased to be able to share fantastic the work our paralegals are doing again.

This week’s Virtual Lunch for paralegals and junior lawyers, in collaboration with LexisNexis UK and Crafty Counsel, saw Iain Larkin and Sandra Martins from Radius Law cover important employment law topics that you should know.

Lauren Connolly didn’t take a traditional route to qualification. After working in Australia and completing her PGDL, she found the path to becoming a solicitor opaque and highly competitive. Through Flex Legal, she secured a paralegal role at Trustpilot, joined the Flex Trainee scheme, received funding for her SQE, and gained structured qualifying experience. With that support, she qualified and now works as Legal Counsel in Privacy & AI.

There's nothing we love more than highlighting the fantastic work of our paralegals, lawyers and trainees. This month we were thrilled to have a chat with Devon, who has worked through Flex as a Competition Paralegal at Stewarts. Take a read to hear all about her experience!

There's nothing we love more than highlighting the fantastic work of our paralegals, lawyers and trainees. This month we were thrilled to have a chat with Yeelen, who has worked through Flex at magic circle law firm, Freshfields. Take a read to hear all about his experience!

The role of the Company Secretary is on the rise. As a route for those interested in businesses and how they operate, it offers the perfect alternative if you are on the look-out for a career outside of the law. But what is a Company Secretary? Who can follow this career path? And how can you become one through Flex Legal?

The importance of properly resourcing litigation projects cannot be overstated. The challenge confronting litigators, therefore, is how to juggle the two conflicting priorities of quality vs cost. In this report, we explore how interim resourcing solves both problems.

There's nothing we love more than highlighting the fantastic work of our paralegals, lawyers and trainees. This month we were thrilled to have a chat with Daniyal, a multilingual LLB Law Graduate, who has worked on multiple Flex placements, from Huel to Freshfields. Take a read to hear all about his experience!

It’s no secret that the legal industry has a long way to go when it comes to managing the health and wellbeing of its legal professionals. As a paralegal new to the industry, it’s important to maintain a healthy workflow without feeling fatigue and burnout, but how can you achieve such a serene state of mind?

Our Paralegal Spotlight is being cast again... this time in the direction of the incredible future trainee Amy Hopkins! After coming to us in July on the lookout for some valuable legal experience, Amy has flourished on an in-house placement at leading consumer insights platform, Zappi. Take a read to see what Amy has to say about her Flexperience.

Our Paralegal Spotlight is being cast in the direction of the fantastic Roman Tokaryk! Roman joined the platform late last year, and has since made waves on his lengthy placement with Williams Advanced Engineering. Watch Roman talk about his Flex experience!

Book a place at July's Junior Lawyer Lunch Event. This is a continuation of our Junior Lawyer Virtual Lunches, which offer industry insights, professional tips and networking opportunities.

We're casting our Paralegal Spotlight on the wonderful Adilla Jamaludin! Adilla has been on the Flex platform since January this year, and was quickly snatched up for a Family Law placement. Learn more about Adilla's Flex journey by watching her spotlight video!

Document review is a bread and butter task within the paralegal world. As a legal professional, the importance of having a good grasp of document review cannot be overstated. Read our comprehensive guide to paralegal-level document review here!

Flex Legal are back again bringing an array of teams together (virtually) from across the thriving Northern In-house legal community; aimed at all levels of legal professionals, from paralegals to GC's.

The Midlands In-house Event will bring together an array of teams from across the thriving Midlands In-house legal community. Join us for our first session on the exciting topic of 'Building the legal team of the future', hosted by Sophie Gould, our very own Head of Learning and Development at Flex Legal!

We're delighted to announce that the latest Flex paralegal we'd like to place a spotlight on is the wonderful Shannon Grant! Shannon has made such an incredible impression during her placement with DWF, that she has now transferred permanently to the client. We had a chat with Shannon to hear all about her experience of using Flex.

Giana Narciso is the subject of 2022's first Paralegal Spotlight! Watch Giana talk about her experiences working through Flex, and her advice to other aspiring legal professionals, in the video here!

Application season is well underway! If you're looking to break into a career in law, you're going to have to contend with open days sooner or later. Here are our top tips for getting the most out of them, and how to make a great impression!

We're delighted to announce that our POTM for December 21 is the incredible Antony Christopherson! Antony has excelled during his Flex placement at NJF Capital, the venture capital arm of NJF Holdings. We had a chat with him to hear all about his experience of working through Flex.

For the first time ever, we assembled a podcast panel! We invited three aspiring lawyers to talk about the different routes they're taking into the legal profession - Rhiana Assi, Hattie Rawlings, and Daniel Onafuwa.

Book a place at December's Junior Lawyer Lunch, where Rory Oake, Consultant at Ardea International, will deliver a talk on everything Junior Lawyers should know about modern slavery - including how they can identify and combat it.

Book a place at November's Junior Lawyer Lunch, where Christopher Tart-Roberts, Head of Lawtech at Macfarlanes, will talk through what tech & key skills junior lawyers should have a grasp on to accelerate their career and become a valuable team member.

We're delighted to crown the exceptional Hannah Vo our POTM for September 2021! Hannah has made a hugely positive impact during her long-term paralegal placement at Freshfields and has continued to go above and beyond during her time there.

Our Paralegal of the Month for August is Kevin! A trilingual LPC graduate, Kevin has smashed it out of the park on his long-standing Flex placement with Dentons. Hear all about his experience of using Flex in this short video.

July 2021's Paralegal of the Month is Rudolph Benade! We're really pleased to recognise Rudolph here, who is a globe-trotting Future Trainee Solicitor. We put some big questions to Rudolph, such as how he got into law, what the future holds, and how he feels about working through us!

Our May 2021 Paralegal of the Month is the astonishing Rhiana Assi! Rhiana is a Commercial and IP Paralegal who works through Flex, and recently underwent an immensely complex and varied placement with one of our clients. Watch what she has to say in this short video!

Congratulations to our April 2021 Paralegal of the Month, Julia! We were fortunate enough to have Julia sign up to work through Flex in January, and were quickly able to get her working on a fantastic placement with Trustpilot. Read what she has to say here!

Josephine joined Flex last year, and has since gone on to receive sensational feedback from her long-standing placement at Vodafone! We're incredibly pleased with the energy she's been able to bring to the placement and our platform.

We are delighted to crown Louie Buckland as our Paralegal of the Month for October 2020.

This year our business flipped from paralegals in offices to remote supervision and we’ve learnt a lot from this experience. In light of the recent news that office workers should ‘work from home’ where they can for the next six months, we wanted to share some of our principles for a successful remote paralegal placement

Starting your legal career is the hardest part of the journey. We recently hosted a virtual careers session to get expert opinions on what works and what doesn’t when it comes to applications and assessment days. Read what they had to say now!