Diana's journey into law as a first-generation immigrant was anything but easy. Yet, with a determined can-do attitude, invaluable mentorship, and unwavering resilience, she rose through the ranks. From Flex Paralegal to Flex Trainee, and now an NQ Lawyer at PZ Cussons, her career path is sure to leave you inspired. Take a read of her full story here.

Resourcing strategy - it’s always high on the agenda for a law firm, but what does it really mean, and what does it consist of? How you curate a resourcing strategy can depend on your organisation's agenda and what the overall goals of the business are. How can you most effectively deliver on your client’s work at the lowest possible cost? Read on to find out more.

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.

Ever wondered about the difference between eDiscovery and document review? Or puzzled over what it means to 'tag' a document? These are common questions for those stepping into the legal world. With the rise of AI, these processes are becoming faster and more precise, making them essential in today’s legal practice. Read this blog to discover everything you need to know.

This definitive guide for litigation teams and senior litigators alike features actionable guidance, based on wisdom imparted from two seasoned group litigators; Ibukun Alabi and Elina Landsman, that will constructively better your practice and improve client service levels.

This report casts a light on some best practice rules for working with litigation funders. With direct input from the investment team at Therium, a leading global litigation finance firm, we present inside knowledge on how to work effectively with funders.

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.

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?

The legal industry is changing. A new generation of legal professionals are sweeping into the corridors of law firms and the seats of in-house legal teams. But who is this new generation? How are they engaging with the expected norms of the legal world? How does the generational divide impact their approach to work?

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!

Sometimes legal professionals go the full Flex distance! Saad Ali is one such individual, who excellent on multiple paralegal placements via Flex before being accepted into the ranks of Flex Trainee. Read his story!

The Crown Estate are a historic and unique company, and a partner for our Flex Trainee scheme. They share our vision for a more socially mobile, inclusive legal profession. Read about the work we've been doing together!

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!

Flex Trainee is our SQE qualification programme, designed to help diverse, talented aspiring lawyers from socially mobile backgrounds get into the industry. We had a chat with Mark Sanford, General Counsel at Next15 Communications, about their experience of the scheme so far.

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!

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!

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!

Daniele was the first ever interim lawyer we on-boarded onto the Flex platform. Since then, he's thrived on two long-term placements and made such an incredible impact with our clients throughout. Take a read to see what he has to say about working as an interim lawyer through Flex!

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.

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.

For the latest instalment of our Junior Lawyer Lunches, we hosted a Q&A session with Maaike de Bie, GC at easyJet. Take a read to learn all about Maaike’s legal career so far, and what skills she believes have been key to her success.

Flex Trainee is our SQE qualification programme, and we're getting a lot of interest in it! Read this blog post to learn how to apply to the scheme, and the diversity / social mobility criteria our STRIVE partners ask for in applications.

We had a blast hosting our first ever Midlands In-house Event earlier this month, which focussed on how in-house teams can build a legal team of the future. Take a read of this blog post for a summary of the event, and to find out why you should become a part of our Midlands in-house community.

Are you a junior lawyer who dreams about having a better life/work balance? A career which allows you to do the work you love, your way? Then moving to interim working could be the change you need. Here are our top 5 reasons to take that leap today!

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!

Every Tuesday, Flex sends automated timesheets to all of our paralegals and lawyers who are active on a project. This allows you to keep a record of the hours you spent working each day on any given week. Here’s a handy step-by-step guide for all our Flexers on how to fill them out!

Melissa Kelly and Deborah Baxter founded TMFLC with the aim of doing things better. This people-first approach aligns strongly with our mission at Flex Legal. So, as you can expect, when Melissa and Deborah approached Flex in July 2021 looking for an interim paralegal, we were delighted to help.

In our latest Junior Lawyer Lunch, Harry Mellor and Holly Moore talked about how the O Shaped Lawyer promotes a more rounded approach to legal work, and the importance of client-centric skills for future lawyers. Here's a summary of the key takeaways.

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!

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.

Melissa Kelly and Deborah Baxter are founding partners of The Modern Family Law Company. They sat down with Louise Anderson to discuss the often hard realities of working in family law, and the wider legal industry.

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.

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.

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.

In this podcast episode, Mary is joined by Catie Sheret, General Counsel at Cambridge University Press & Assessment. They have a chat about getting the best of your legal team, managing people during the age of hybrid working, how in-house lawyers can demonstrate value to their organisations, and more!

As more and more technology roles enter the legal profession, the industry and its expectations are evolving. Tech skills are now essential, which means future-proofing your career is now essential. Read how you can future-proof your career now!

The legal industry finds itself in the midst of a huge upheaval. The COVID-19 pandemic proved that remote working in law works, and the "Great Resignation" has seen legal professionals leaving their firms in search of better life / work conditions. As we rebuild, we must ask if this new hybrid model is here to stay? Read this longform article to find the answer to this burning question.

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.

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.

The Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) came into effect on 1 September 2021, with the first round of SQE 1 exams commencing in November 2021. This blog article highlights the SRA’s transitional arrangements and 12 city law firms’ approaches to the SQE.

We launched our brand new Flex Legal SQE Journal in May and since then, we’ve had well over 25,000 qualifying work experience (QWE) hours recorded by SQE candidates. We caught up with Luana Gomes Medalha show you what a great tool it can be for QWE supervisors, as well a SQE candidates.

We've been allowed a super exclusive sneak peak into the findings from the LexisNexis legal tech report. Click here to read the big insights into how the use of legal technology has changed over the course of the COVID pandemic!

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!

Ever wondered about the benefits of interim paralegals and lawyers? This article breaks down 5 huge perks of bolstering your in-house legal team with flexible legal professionals from Flex Legal. Have a read, and maybe cast your mind's eye to a world where flexible legal resourcing solves all of your problems!

Episode 7 of Humans of Law sees Louise talk with the inspirational Holly Moore, Solicitor Apprentice at ITV and founder of thatlawblog.

Graduating your law degree is a big step, and finding your first law job might not be as easy as you thought. Click here to learn 6 reasons why you should consider about a great alternative - joining a legal temp agency like Flex Legal.

Athletes have mindsets that allow them to excel at high levels. Thanks to cutting edge research, we now know how to harness that mindset, and use it excel in non-athletic fields. Read the secret to harnessing an athletic mindset here!

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 second episode of the Humans of Law podcast sees Mary talk with Chrissie Wolfe - Founder of the notorious Law and Broader.

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.

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.

Massive congratulations to our April 2021 Lawyer of the Month, Tam Irvine! Tam is a talented New Zealand qualified barrister and solicitor, who has had a fascinating journey into the UK legal scene, and has been working through Flex Legal for some time now. Read more here!

Flex have recently helped Trustpilot Group PLC's legal team prepare for their IPO, by supporting them with flexible interim legal professionals. Read this case study to learn what this experience was like, and what Trustpilot think of Flex Legal.

We often hear our clients looking for the perfect trifecta of quality, cost, and value - the mythical 5 year PQE solicitor. We think this is the wrong metric, and know you can get better results for your budget by asking the simple questions we describe here.

Simon Clegg is a broadly experienced commercial lawyer who has been working through Flex since late 2019. We put some questions to our most recent LOTM to find out a little more about his life, his career, and his interim lawyer work.

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.

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.

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!

Staying productive is tricky during a pandemic. Fortunately, lawyer and neuroscientist Dominique Ashby spoke at our most recent Virtual Lunch and gave us some tips for maximising your brain's productivity. Read what she had to say, and help yourself keep productive!

2020 has been a surreal year for everyone - and Flex Legal has been no different. Despite the challenges, we've emerged stronger than ever. In this retrospective blog post, we reflect on the achievements of 2020 and look ahead to 2021.

Building a Personal Development Plan is essential if you're looking to advance yourself professionally. But what's the best way to build one? We begin to address this huge question in part one of this series.

Harry Mellor is a multi-talented member of the Flex Legal Sales and Marketing team, and has experienced more sides of the company than perhaps anyone else. In this edition of our 'This is Me' blog series, Harry answers some questions about himself, his work with Flex, and his ambitions for the future.

Law firm assessment centres are notoriously challenging - but they're not impossible. These 10 tips can give you the little bit of know-how to give you the edge you need to succeed.

Two flexible scaling powerhouses - Flex Legal and Hyperscale Group Ltd - have joined forces to offer a one-stop shop to their clients.

Making mistakes is an unavoidable part of any professional journey - and the legal industry is no exception. Despite this, it can still be difficult to own up to mistakes when they happen, and many junior legal professionals are unsure how to address them.

In 2020, F-LEX was introduced to the legal teams at Vodafone Group, Vodafone Business and Vodafone UK. Vodafone is a British multinational telecommunications company with an award winning legal team spread across 22 countries with over 150 lawyers and compliance professionals in the UK.

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.

This is the second of a three part series examining legal technology and how junior lawyers are driving innovation. Harry spoke to three of The Legal Technologists’s top 10 most innovative junior lawyers to ask them about their journey, experiences and advice they would give.

Kristina Ravic, Head of Client Services at F-LEX, spoke with Chirs Kelly, Legal Counsel at Bloomberg, about his career and advice for Junior Lawyers.

We are back with another tech update for you. This month we are letting you know all about our new Availability feature that we hope will improve efficiency and speed.

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.

At Flex we pride ourselves on providing opportunities for law students looking to break into the legal industry. As such, a lot of the praise we receive is reserved for those closest to our paralegals, the Bookings Team. However, there is so much that goes on behind the scenes that enables the Bookings Team to perform as they do. We have always been proactive in seeking out innovative ways of using technology to increase efficiency. So in this new series of updates, we wanted to give praise to our fantastic team of Tech Gods.

The Virtual Lunch Series hosted by our Sophie Gould, Head of Learning and Development, is going on a wee break over August. In this article, we look back at the topics we have discussed and the lessons we have learnt.

Joanne Theodoulou is the General Counsel and Company Secretary for Simply Business, the largest online business insurance provider in the UK. As an experienced leader of legal teams, we ask Joanne in part two of this interview, what tips to do have for junior lawyers starting their career in-house?

The legal industry has been shifting significantly in recent years, with the role of in-house legal teams at the heart of the change. Although GCs have been discussing how to add value as a legal function for a number of years, articulating this idea in practical terms is difficult. In order to understand and examine the concept of ‘value’ and ‘value-adding behaviours’ of in-house lawyers, LexisNexis UK carried out a deep-dive survey with senior GCs across a range of sectors and organisations.

Innovation and creativity are terms often thrown around without being understood in a practical context. During this week’s Virtual Lunch for paralegals and junior lawyers, we heard from Amy McConnell, Head of Legal Operations at Vodafone Business, on how her company is driving innovation among its in-house counsel…by laying out a simple road-map for them to follow.

We all have a responsibility to tackle racial inequality and to try to make a difference together.

In this week’s Covid-19 Virtual Session in partnership with Radius Law and LexisNexis UK we heard from F-LEX’s own Co-Founder Mary Bonsor on agile working and driving efficiency within your organisation.

In this week’s Covid-19 Virtual Session in partnership with Radius Law and LexisNexis UK we heard from Matthew Redding, GC at Six Degrees, on cybersecurity.

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.

This week in our series of virtual lunches in collaboration with Crafty Counsel and LexisNexis UK Charlotte Lakin, trainee solicitor at Global and founder of inlaw, shares her 5 top tips for raising your profile in the legal industry during lockdown.

Lincoln would say “it's not the years in your life that count; it's the life in your years.” As a Flex Lawyer, I would say – it’s not the length of the project you work on, it’s the connections you make along the way, the experience you gain and the difference you make.

So I’m now six or so weeks into my new role at F-lex. WHAT A TIME to start a new job! When I said I was looking for a new challenge, this wasn’t quite what I had expected but I’m so pleased to have made the move. Here are some reflections on the first 30 days:

Found yourself with a lot of free time on your hands recently! Don't worry - you're not the only one! We've put together a list of things you can spend this time to doing, both to advance your career and unwind!

A message to our F-lexers and Clients

We have joined the podcast party!For our very first episode our founder, Mary Bonsor, interviewed Catie Sheret on the topic of flexible working. Catie is the General Counsel of Cambridge University Press.

Round up of F-lex team news and views for January 2020

Having attended the Legal Geek Legal Design conference for the past 2 years, it got us thinking about our users. Had we really had asked our paralegals if they understood what they were signing up to when they joined F-LEX?

October, and if you haven’t started thinking about Vac Schemes then you should start now. An increasingly large number of firms are putting a greater emphasis on their vac schemes, with many city firms recruiting solely from them, such as HSF and Mischcon de Reya.

Earlier this month, F-LEX held a thought-provoking panel discussion in Manchester, chaired by our Head of Northern Hub, Eimear McCann. 50 of us, a range of legal enthusiasts and techies, gathered to demystify the future of the law. The evening proved to be a real crowd pleaser, provoking some interesting questions from the audience and some healthy debate.

As September nears many of you will be gearing up for the next “Big Push” (The first of many cliches). You all know what I am talking about of course, applications. It’s a time that strikes dread into the hearts of even the hardiest of souls.

In November 2018, a group of F-LEX paralegals started a group action project in Liverpool with international firm, SPG Law; however, for some, this was just the start of an incredible journey which led to rural Brazil and culminated in permanent job offers for two and a training contract for another. This is their story!

As many of you are sitting the GDL and LPC exams in the coming months. We here at F-LEX thought we would give you are top tips to revision.

In this article Hannah takes a look at “an interesting story in the news”. One for that horrible commercial awareness question. Enjoy!

Law firms and other legal employers now put a great deal of emphasis on candidates being ‘commercially aware’ - but what does this mean?

My background is in software - I previously helped grow a company called Red Gate Software from about 20 people up to 300+ people with offices all around the world.

Friends and family may lend a sympathetic ear to your career-planning, but it is important to reach out and connect with people who can offer objective career advice. By branching out and conversing with a range of people in your profession of choice, or even beyond, you will secure important guidance and advice for the future, and even make some great friends too!

Across all industries, technology has challenged the status quo and the legal industry is no exception. The question is how? The unprecedented pace at which technology is evolving makes this general question difficult to answer in absolute truth.

We couldn’t think of any lessons to learn from the cabinet meltdown, so here are a few (shoe horned) tips for our paralegals from England’s performance in the World Cup:

Blockchain is the driving force in digital disruption and is the technology behind bitcoin and other virtual currencies, however there is still much confusion behind it. This article aims to debunk the misconceptions around blockchain and provide a holistic view over it.

Law Firm job interviews are notoriously tough - but they aren't impossible! Tip the odds in your favour and get prepared for law firm job interviews using these essential and important tips.

Navigating the high-volume demands of litigation requires more than just a robust legal strategy – it demands a carefully structured resourcing model that balances efficiency, quality, and scalability. As specialists in flexible legal support, we’ve seen how the right resourcing approach can make or break a firm’s success. Here are some actionable tips for volume claims law firms to optimise their workforce.

In today’s dynamic legal landscape, flexibility and adaptability are no longer just buzzwords—they are essential for success. Legal teams are constantly grappling with the challenge of balancing workloads, meeting client demands, and staying ahead of emerging trends. One of the most innovative and effective ways some law firms are meeting these challenges is by tapping into their alumni network. Read on to find out more.

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!

In recent years, public inquiries have become a cornerstone of the UK's legal landscape. But what exactly are they, why do they matter, and do they actually lead to meaningful change? In this blog, we aim to answer these questions, shedding light on how public inquiries work, their impact, and how legal professionals can engage with this type of work.

Book a place at one of our Junior Lawyer Lunch Events. These monthly sessions offer valuable industry insights, professional tips and networking opportunities.

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 Yeelen, who has worked through Flex at magic circle law firm, Freshfields. Take a read to hear all about his experience!

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.

Inclusion is everything. Studies have repeatedly shown that higher workplace inclusion directly contributes to increased productivity, wellbeing, and staff retention. Flex Legal are proud of the reputation we have built in this space, and now want to share our insights with the wider legal industry.

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!

In our latest Commercial News Round-Up, our squad of commercial gurus, James, Aman and Lizzie, run through the latest news from across the legal industry. They cover CMA blocking the Microsoft purchase of Activision Blizzard, ESG and disclosure, and the increasing prevalence of AI.

Flex Trainee is our SQE qualification programme, designed to help diverse, talented aspiring lawyers from socially mobile backgrounds get into the industry. We had a chat with Sarah Gormley, Head of General Counsel Operational Excellence at Phoenix Group, to hear about their experience of the scheme so far.

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?

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.

Thinking about making the move to interim? Or simply on the lookout for a new challenge? At Flex Legal, we have hundreds of interim opportunities with top legal teams all across the UK. To help you decide if going interim is the right move for you, we've pulled together this handy summary of our latest roles and skills in demand!

In our latest Commercial News Round-Up, our resident commercial king Jacob Darcy runs through the latest commercial news from across the legal industry. He covers the looming recession, the surge in the dollar, JD's sale of Footasylum and the effect of inflation on the bond market.

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!

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 our latest Commercial News Round-Up, our resident commercial king Jacob Darcy runs through the latest commercial news from across the legal industry. He covers the private equity surge, the battle for McColls, "stagflation", and the recent rise in interest rates!

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.

Flex Legal, in association with the O Shaped Lawyer, are excited to release the findings of our Future Lawyers Survey. Conducted with 418 next-gen lawyers, this report records how they feel about the legal industry, and what change they want to see. Read the full report 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.

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.

Flex Trainee is our groundbreaking scheme to make the law a more diverse and socially mobile industry. We launched the scheme last year, and are well on our way to setting up our third cohort of Flex Trainees. Read more about the scheme!

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.

Dan Kayne is Founder of the O Shaped Lawyer, and a GC at Network Rail. In this episode of the podcast, he talks with Louise Anderson about how and why he wants to make the legal industry more human-centric.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

The Commercial Development Scheme is a programme for future lawyers, either with or without training contracts, who are looking to hone their commercial skills before they start their legal careers.

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.

Nathalie came to Flex Legal keen to find a role which would allow her to travel and work remotely. After two weeks on our platform, we found her the perfect position as a Commercial Lawyer at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation. We chatted to Nathalie to hear about her experience of working as an interim lawyer.

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.

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.

In this episode Louise is joined by Simranjeet Kaur Mann, Trainee Solicitor at Womble Bond Dickinson, and legal influencer/educator, who discusses her legal journey so far, why the next generation of legal professionals are a breath of fresh air, and even a super exciting announcement exclusive to Humans of Law!

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.

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.

Runnymede Law is a specialist law firm providing affordable dispute resolution and claims handling services to insurers and other clients. Read all about how we've responded to their quick turnarounds and helped to ease their busy workload.

Reflective learning? That’s just a waste of time, right? Wrong! It’s very easy to get caught up in the working world, so people rarely stop to think about what they’ve learned and achieved. This blog article explores what reflective learning actually is, and its personal and professional benefits.

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!

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.

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.

In episode 8 of Humans of Law, Mary rounds off Series 1 by talking to Elizabeth Rimmer, CEO of LawCare.

Flex Legal have had the absolute pleasure of working with Lenovo and providing them with a number of interim paralegals. Read this case study and learn what Sarah Rosser, Director and GC at Lenovo, thinks about Flex Legal's services.

Our sixth episode of Humans of Law sees Mary talk with Barry Matthews, Founder of the Social Mobility Business Partnership.

The fifth episode of Humans of Law sees Louise talk with the incomparable Helen Lowe, Head of Legal Operations at easyJet.

The third episode of Humans of Law sees Louise talk with Keily Blair, Head of Cyber, Privacy & Data Innovation London at Orrick.

In our first episode of the Humans of Law podcast, Louise talks with Alex Smith - Global RAVN Product Lead at iManage.

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!

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.

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!

What is a legal technologist? What do they do? How can you become one? We asked the Manchester Legal Hackers group your questions, so read what they had to say!

The Flex platform is designed to pair the right paralegals to the right opportunities. This is exactly what happened with Armand Derri and Schroders. Read more about how this pairing happened here!

Your Flex profile video is incredibly important for securing Flex roles. Think of it as the first impression you might give an employer when walking into an interview. Here's our simple guide on how to record a great video for your Flex profile!

We catch up with the wonderful Iliana to find out how she's finding trainee life at Wikborg Rein.

We put some questions to Evan Milton, our fantastic Lawyer of the Month. Read what he has to say about his work through Flex, why the interim lifestyle suits him, and some advice for aspiring solicitors.

We catch up with Ali, who recently landed a permanent position as UserZoom following a Flex Legal placement. He shares all kinds of helpful tips and advice for making the most of Flex positions.

Marciano Santos Tigna has been crowned January 2021's Paralegal of the Month! We caught up with Marciano to discuss his work through Flex, explore his journey so far, and get his advice for those looking to make some headway in the legal industry!

Interested in securing work through Flex Legal? Updating your Flex Legal profile is the best way to ensure you get put forward and selected for roles. Here's 5 key suggestions for ways you can update your Flex profile, and increase your chances of securing work!

Following the end of the transition period, Data Protection in the UK will change significantly. Whilst a lot of the details remain unknown, there are still important steps legal teams and businesses should take to prepare. In this post, we break down how you can brace for the rapidly changing tide of data.

Bill Galloway is a UX Designer at Flex Legal. His career is comprehensive and, frankly, impressive. In this version of our 'This is Me' blog series, Bill answers some important questions about himself, his work, and his experiences with Flex Legal.

Many professionals are horrified with the thought of feedback - regardless of if they're giving or receiving it. But no matter what your job is - at some point you're going to have to confront feedback. It's time to learn how to master the art of feedback.

After four fantastic years of F-LEX, it was time to shake things up. We gathered our team and put our heads together. With a new name and a new mission - Flex Legal was born!

A few weeks ago, Flex Legal was thrilled to conduct our monthly Virtual GC Session in collaboration with LexisNexis and Radius Law. Speakers at this event included Iain Larkins and Sandra Martins of Radius Law, who discussed business preparations for the rapidly approaching end of the UK’s Brexit transition period.

Securing a training contract is one of the hardest challenges aspiring lawyers face. However, we are pleased to share another success story to show you that it is possible! We recently caught up with Carmen Yong, a trainee solicitor at Laytons LLP, to find out more about her journey to a training contract and how F-LEX helped her along the way.

A few weeks ago, we were delighted to welcome Ehsan Haque and Daniel Morgan as guest speakers at our Virtual GC Session in collaboration with LexisNexis and Radius Law. Ehsan is the Global Head of Legal and Compliance at Hamilton Capital, and Daniel is Managing Partner at Haines Watts. The topic for the call surrounded the second wave of COVID-19 and its potential impacts on businesses.

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

As companies sharing similar visions of using technology to boost efficiency in the workplace, Juro and Flex Legal have been complementary to each other since their inception.

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!

Connor Smith, Clifford Chance Lift Intern at F-LEX sat down with Nick O’Neill, Governance and Legal Practice Manager at Wirral Council to learn more about his legal career in local government:

The Paralegal of the Month Award is back! Read on to find out about our Paralegal of the Month for July 2020.

Whether you wish to work from the French Alps (as I currently am), the sandy beaches of the Bahamas, or a busy city office, as long as you have an internet connection, F-LEX is able to offer you exactly that! As a freelance lawyer, F-LEX provides you with the flexibility to work when, where and upon what you please (as long as you meet the deadlines!)

An accomplished leader of legal teams, Joanne has a wealth of experience spanning city firms, start-ups, charities and global companies, and a passion for inclusion and mental health. Sophie Gould, Head of Learning and Development at F-LEX, asks Joanne to share her wisdom and advice. In part one of this interview Joanne explains how she gives junior lawyers a voice to discuss risks and problems.

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!

Remote working is here to stay. This means that Project Managers and Team Leaders need to adapt their management styles. Fortunately for readers, F-LEX’s Co-Founder and CTO, James Moore, has been managing remote teams for 15 years and knows exactly what works…and what doesn’t.

This week in our series of virtual lunches in collaboration with Crafty Counsel and LexisNexis UK Alex Low, LinkedIn Guru and Professional Services Lead at DLA Ignite shared his tips for building your career on LinkedIn!

During this week’s virtual lunch in collaboration with Crafty Counsel and LexisNexis UK, we heard from three of the Legal Technologist’s Top 10 Innovative Junior Lawyers in the UK on innovation and legal tech.

Orbital Witness approached F-LEX as they needed some help to review and label several HM Land Registry title documents. F-LEX thought the best solution would be to let some paralegals do the first review and then get a lawyer to supervise the project and check the work.

This week in our series of virtual lunches in collaboration with Crafty Counsel and LexisNexis UK Katie Barker, Corporate Associate at Addleshaw Goddard and Advisory Board of Aspire in-house junior lawyers network, shared her top tips for networking!

From law firm to in-house to pilates teacher to freelance consultant, Katie Power tells Mary Bonsor about her legal career journey to date and how flexible working has played an important part.

When the UK Government ordered the Nation to stay home, Echo, an online Pharmacy that dispenses and delivers NHS prescriptions, experienced an unprecedented increase in customer demand. Although not our usual gig, we knew our law graduates would have no problem being able to empathise, respect regulations and confidentiality, work fast, show an eye for detail and deliver exceptional customer service.  

Last week, Sophie Gould, Head of Learning & Development at F-LEX, chaired the first in a series of virtual lunches for junior lawyers, trainees and paralegals.

Working from home is an important part of flexible working. Although it’s standard practice for some of us already, many of us have had the concept of working from home unexpectedly thrust upon us by Coronavirus, with little time to adapt.

Hello! I’m Louie and I’m part of the Commercial Development Scheme here at F-LEX. I am an LLB and LPC graduate working while I apply for training contracts in London.

Kristina Ravic, our Client Services Manager at F-LEX, spoke with Susan Whitla at BCLP about her career, the challenges currently facing law firms, and the trends influencing legal innovation.

Hi! I’m Ally – an Associate on the Commercial Development Scheme here at FLEX. I started out as a paralegal through FLEX at Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF). I then moved to working for FLEX part-time while completing the LPC and currently work for FLEX full-time until I start my training contract with Mayer Brown in February!

We share our 5 bitesize tips for training contract application glory!

This month we are pretty quiet in terms of the comings and goings of team members but we do have some very exciting news!

As part of his induction to the team, Harry sat new comer Louie down to have a chat about the LPC.

F-LEX turns 3! Yes guys, three years ago two intrepid entrepreneurs began the journey of a life time and a jump into the unknown. From Shoreditch to London Bridge and Manchester, F-LEX has gone from strength to strength.

The Big Four are the largest accounting and professional services firms in the world, namely, Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC.

On 25th May 2019 it will be one year since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force. As consumers, we all saw an increase in emails about updates in privacy policy in the run up to the GDPR. But what other changes have been taking place over the past year?

A few months ago we sat down with Johanna and Caulyn to talk about the then upcoming SQE pilot. In this interview we find out a bit more about their experience on the pilot and what we can expect in the future.

The SQE is going to have a profound effect on law firms, for Flexers and, most importantly, law students. Two Flexers have been chosen to be part of the SRA’s Pilot Scheme. We sat down and asked Caulyn Bong (CB) and Johanna Lipponen (JL) a few questions about the SQE and the Pilot scheme.

Put simply, legal technology refers to the use of software to help provide legal services. Legal technology has been instrumental in the emergence of startups seeking to disrupt the traditional aspects of the profession.

Pro bono is derived from the Latin term “pro bono publico”, meaning “for the public good.” Pro bono is where persons in the legal sector volunteer in various ways to improve access to justice.

“Cryptocurrency” describes the digital system (“crypto”) where transactions within a system of money (“currency”) are recorded on an open and distributed ledger, called the “blockchain”. Unlike fiat currencies[1], the ledger used is not backed up by banks, any physical asset, or credit of any government or business.

This might sound very obvious but being prompt is really important. If you are meant to be at work at 9, then you should really be there before 9

Applying for a training contract is a daunting process and you’ll be spending at least two years at the firm that you secure a training contract with, so make sure that you are applying to the right firm for you.

When planning to bring new talent into an organisation, most employers consider salary as the main expense involved in recruitment. However, direct hiring comes with a range of hidden costs that, if overlooked, can have a significant impact on a company’s budget and resources. Understanding these costs can help businesses make informed hiring decisions and even consider alternative solutions like Flex Legal.

In recent years, the way people work within the legal sector has undergone a major transformation. Whether it’s the systems used, or how firms structure their talent acquisition strategy, it’s clear that the traditional legal industry has evolved and adapted to thrive in the modern age. But what is the difference between an FTC and interim contract? And how do you choose the right option for you? Take a read to find out more.

With shared values at the forefront, RS Group were delighted to partner with Flex on a two-week long social mobility internship for talented young law students and graduates. Finlay, Mary-Ann and Megan were the lucky candidates after demonstrating incredibly strong drive, passion and commitment. Read all about their experience here.

As in-house teams across the legal world steadily adopt the SQE, many are left unsure of how their organisation can get involved. To this end, our free report covers the full spectrum of SQE knowledge – from the basic facts of the new framework, all the way to advanced insight on the current implementation challenges.

Join us for an insightful online event where we delve into the evolving landscape of e-discovery and document review, with insights from Richard Legge, Partner and Head of eDiscovery, alongside a panel of Flex paralegals.

After three years of growth, Flex Legal’s award-winning Flex Trainee scheme is now launching in the boutique law firm space. Flex Trainee is a unique social mobility scheme, designed to empower legal teams to take on trainees and grow their own talent in-house where they may not previously have had the resources or processes in place to do so.

7 Years, 60 Projects, 420 Paralegals. Since opening their Manchester Hub in 2017, Flex and Freshfields have worked hand-in-hand to confidently navigate the ever-changing landscape of the legal sector. With the support of Flex Paralegals, the Freshfields' Hub have been able to flexibly scale-up (and down) their legal workforce. Read the full story here.

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?

Tony, a commercial solicitor with four and a half years' PQE, came to Flex Legal in June on the lookout for a new challenge. Keen to diversify and broaden his legal experience, he's adapted to an entirely new industry whilst on an interim placement at a global automotive company. Take a read to hear all about his experience of using Flex.

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!

Law firm assessment centres are notoriously challenging. They are designed to push you and to establish how well you perform under pressure. It can’t be denied that they are incredibly competitive… but they're not impossible. Here are our top 5 tips to give you the edge and help you succeed!

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!

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.

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.

Julia joined the Flex Legal platform towards the end of 2021 on the lookout for a remote, real estate role. Within three days, we found her the perfect position at DWF and since then, she's thrived on a second placement at BCLP. Take a read to see what she has to say about working as an interim lawyer through Flex!

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.

Legal hackathons are growing in popularity, and more and more legal groups are exploring the problem-solving middleground between law and technology. We wanted to know more about "legal hackathons" so put your questions to the Manchester Legal Hackers. Read what they had to say!

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!

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.

Oscar Davies is a practicing barrister at Lamb Chambers, and was the first barrister in the UK to publicly identify as non-binary. Oscar and Louise have a thought-provoking discussion about the Bar, why legal TV shows aren't representative, and diversity within the law.

There's a lot of theories about how to best be commercial as a lawyer, but no uniform agreement. In this Junior Lawyer Lunch follow-up blog post, we cover four of the best theories on how to drive positive commercial outcomes for your organisation.

Welcome to our first ever weekly commercial news roundup. Designed for busy aspiring or qualified lawyers who want to quickly get up to speed with all the latest commercial headlines, without having to search far and wide across a myriad of sources!

With 'blame culture', unreasonable pressure and impossible deadlines being seen across the legal industry, change is needed now more than ever. But what changes need to be made? For the latest instalment of our Junior Lawyer Lunches we tried to answer this very question.

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'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.

Dan Kayne is Founder of the O Shaped Lawyer, and a GC at Network Rail. In this episode of the podcast, he talks with Louise Anderson about how and why he wants to make the legal industry more human-centric.

Emerald Publishing is one of the world's leading digital-first publishers. Find out how we've provided them with both mid-level and senior interim commercial lawyers to support their in-house legal team and ease their workload.

LinkedIn is now synonymous with professional life in the legal industry. If you optimise your profile well, you can use it to attract new opportunities, roles, and connections without needing to search for them. Here's our top tips for LinkedIn Lawyers!

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.

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.

After overcoming the challenges of 2020, Flex Legal has come back with a bang in 2021. From winning prestigious awards, to launching a brand new social mobility training scheme, it’s been a big year for the team at Flex HQ, so we wanted to take a moment to look back on our fave highlights from the year.

Modern Slavery - it's everywhere and probably closer than you think. Everyone in the legal community understands the importance of human rights - but do we know about human rights abuses happening right under our noses?

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!

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.

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.

Humans of Law is back! In this episode Mary is joined by Sarah Goulbourne, Co-founder of gunnercooke, and discusses the unexpected ins and outs of founding and growing a legal company. If you've ever wanted to know what it takes to be a legal entrepreneur, then this is the episode for you!

Flex Legal have worked with Aston University since February 2020. Find out how we've provided them with continued flexible paralegal resourcing, and helped them to fill a brand new remote lawyer role as quickly and efficiently as possible.

In this special bonus episode of Humans of Law, Mary and Louise round off our first series by reflecting back on the first 8 episodes.

Kraft Heinz is a widely recognised household name, and one of the world’s biggest food and beverage companies, so when they were introduced to Flex Legal in 2019, we were obviously delighted at the chance to work with them. Who wouldn’t be?

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!

The legal industry is a behemoth, and timesheets are the lifeblood that course through its legislative veins. Working in law means you'll be filling out a lot of timesheets. There's a definite art to doing this, so read our 10 timesheet tips now!

There's a lot of key differences to working and training in-house or in private practice. There's a number of cultural differences between both, which affects what it's like to work in those environments. Read this article to learn which one is right for you.

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!

Facing a job interview for your first law position is a scary thing – especially when you’re still a student. Whether it’s for an internship, a paralegal role, a training position, or anything else, landing an interview can be both exciting and scary in equal measure.

The legal sector has an opportunity to be on the right side of history in helping keep a liveable planet for all.  When it comes to delivering climate action, the most important part of the sector are in-house lawyers, due to their direct interface with their organisation; a trusted advisor who can act as a moral compass.

Our fourth episode of Humans of Law features Mary talking with the delightful Maeve Storey, Head of Crowdjustice.

Right now, the legal world is on the cusp of an enormous technological shift towards automation and machinery. In this long-form article, we assess what this means for the future of the legal industry, and whether lawyers are about to be replaced by quicker, smarter Artificial Intelligence.

We were introduced to RSG Consulting in 2017 when they were seeking paralegals to help them writing for the FT Innovative Lawyer Awards. Since then, we've provided them with a dozen talented paralegals, and they're immensely happy with us. Read more about this relationship here!

Working as an interim lawyer through Flex Legal can give you more variety in your work, more time working on the projects you're interested in, and a better life / work balance. Read more about making the transition to the interim lifestyle in this blog post.

'Being commercial' is one of the most important aspects of professional life in law - but what does this actually mean? Our most recent Virtual Lunch delved into this huge topic, so read our comprehensive summary of the main takeaways 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.

Managing your mental health is often an afterthought in the legal industry, but it's something that affects us all. On World Health Day, we invited LawCare champion Gemma Farina to tell us about mental health and wellbeing in law. Read what she had to say here.

We would like to congratulate our March 2021 Paralegal of the Month, Hannah! Hannah is a fantastic paralegal currently studying her LPC, and has been on multiple placements through Flex. Watch her discuss her experiences here!

We've taken the bold decision to make our SQE QWE Journal available to everyone - regardless of whether or not you're on the Flex platform. Learn more about how your SQE Journal can help you qualify!

The forthcoming changes to the off-payroll working rules (IR35) are a tricky area to manoeuvre. Fortunately, Flex Legal has you covered!

Anthi is a Flex lawyer taking full advantage of the remote working situation. Read how she gets the most out of the Flex lawyer lifestyle and works remotely in Greece!

The SQE is here, and it means big changes to the solicitor qualification process. We've broken down the main points about the SQE, Qualifying Work Experience, and the Professional Development Record. Learn all about them here!

Are you looking to apply for training contracts? This guide takes some of the hard work out of the equation, and breaks down the different types of law firms out there!

Modern Slavery is a more prevalent problem than we in the UK legal industry might initially think. There are more slaves in the world today than there have ever been. This post explores why this problem is so prevalent, and what we can do about it.

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 put some of YOUR burning questions about law firm assessment centres to two brilliant legal professionals - Jess Heap, ofLatham & Watkins LLP, and Chloe Lloyd of Gowling WLG. Read what they had to say!

Conexus Law are a specialist advisory firm founded by Ed Cooke. They are closely aligned with the values of Flex Legal, who have helped Conexus Law find two permanent hires this year. This has helped them meet their client's needs and provide innovative solutions.

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

In this third and final part of the series, we sit down with Alex Wooley, 4 year PQE qualified solicitor at Farrer & Co, to understand his thoughts and ambitions on Legal Tech.

Both times I worked with F-LEX, I was impressed by F-LEX’s level of communication, the calibre of the clients for which they select candidates, and the support and directness along the way.

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.

Flex Legal and Grosvenor Law have been working together since February 2019. Flex Legal has provided paralegals to Grosvenor Law for 3-6 month fixed term contracts when Grosvenor Law has been particularly busy.

This is the first of a three part series examining legal technology and how junior lawyers are driving innovation. Harry spoke to three of The Legal Technologists’s top 10 most innovative junior lawyers to ask them about their journey, experiences and advice they would give.

In 2016, the oil and gas industry crashed, and by the time we entered 2017, my employer advised that she was closing the office and needed me to work remotely. I was elated. No more 40 minute drives each way to complete work that could be done at home!

On our latest GC call we were delighted to welcome Will Long, Client Partnership Director at Alacrity, who shared some valuable insights into how general counsel can get more value out of their external law firms. For Will, three key areas must be considered when trying to drive valuable relationships between the two: controlling costs; transparency; and evolving relationships through data.

In the continuation of our Virtual Lunch Series, hosted by Sophie Gould, Head of Learning & Development at F-LEX, we talked about being comfortable talking about difference.

My particular leap of faith to head off into the unknown may not be possible for everyone, but I can highly recommend taking a chance on flexible working as a lawyer. The benefits are many for the flexible worker, and for clients needing some extra help without having to take on an employee and all that this brings in terms of extra costs and legal responsibility, using the highly professional team at F-LEX brings many advantages too.

We were pleased to welcome an excellent panel of speakers to join last week’s GC call in collaboration with LexisNexis and Crafty Counsel, including Dinesh Jadav, Director of Legal Operations at Royal Mail; Manu Kanwar, Co-founder of LexSolutions; and Madeleine Graham, Head of Product Design at LexisNexis. The discussion continued to build on the theme of legal innovation within the in-house community, with the panel sharing excellent insights from their own experiences.

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.

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.

Radius Law’s Sandra Martins shared important insights on the arrangements, risks and legalities of home working that legal teams should consider as we begin to come out of the other side of the pandemic.

These unprecedented times have thrown up challenge after challenge. With the government starting to ease restrictions, for many law firms the next challenge is how to get the office prepped for the return of their staff. I was able to catch up with Nigel Coates, Deputy Senior Partner at Russell-Cooke to get his thoughts of life in lockdown and the steps that his firm are taking to prepare the office for life after lockdown.

At F-LEX, one of our values is positivity so with this in mind, we asked the F-LEX team:What have you loved during lockdown?What have you learnt during lockdown?What will you do differently after lockdown?

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.

These sessions connect paralegals, trainees and junior lawyers, and encourage top tips, resources and camaraderie to be shared in the legal community during these challenging times.

flexy (not to be confused with F-LEX) was recommended to speak to F-LEX as they needed some help with reviewing 50-100 contracts of various subscription providers.

This morning Sophie Gould, Head of Learning and Development at F-LEX, chaired a fantastic virtual discussion in collaboration with LexisNexis UK and Radius Law between in-house counsels on the prominent issues surrounding COVID-19 and the legal industry.

With most of the U.K. encouraged to work from home during this pandemic, teams have been separated and isolated like never before. While many of us get used to multiway video calls and our new home offices, some F-lexers and Clients have been practicing this way of working for a while. We catch up with Louise Wolfson, Legal Counsel at Gunnercooke and Kemi Feyisetan, F-lex Paralegal to learn more…

With the outbreak of Coronavirus spreading at a rather alarming rate, the world’s economy is starting to feel the effects as governments take action, impacting on global supply chains and other commercial relationships. Stocks have fallen continuously, in what has been the worst week of trading since the 2008 crisis. However, from a legal perspective it has seen a rise in the use of an oft forgotten but at present vital boilerplate clause, the force majeure.

New year, new you, new Training Contract.  In this article I go over 5 of the most common questions we receive.  

Sophie Gould – Head of learning and development at F-lex spoke to Nir to get his insights into how a good lawyer behaves and how the legal profession needs to change and adapt to survive.

Round up of F-lex team news and views for December 2019

Quite rightly discussions about our fragile planet and environment are at the forefront of social policy. As individuals, companies and governments cotton on to the overwhelming severity of the situation, Harry sat down with Fiona Nicholls, Gowling’s Head of Environment, to discuss their Planet + initiative.

In this article one of our Manchester team Sam tell us all about her time in China. She discusses the merits of working abroad and the potential impact that an experience like that can have on your training contract applications and future career.

This month we were able to sit down with Chris White Founder of the UK’s leading legal diversity platform, Aspiring Solicitors to tackle the topic of Diversity. In a month where we have celebrated difference and inclusivity we wanted to explore a topic that is hot on the lips of every law firm in town! We asked Chris some quick fire questions on the topic.

We have really exciting news for all our Flexers that are looking for a career at the bar. We have a brand new podcast just for you.

In London, Bristol and Leeds, Mary and Harry represented F-LEX at the LPM Conferences. We would firstly like to say a huge thank you to the team at LPM for inviting us on to the panel. Over the course of the three panel discussions we covered a variety of topics related to the future workforce. Below are our reflections on what we feel are the biggest takeaway points.

We sat down with Hashim, Marija and Naoise, three of our wonderful Bookings Team, to talk through their hints and tips for the application process! All three have secured training contracts and have been through the process from start to finish with many failed attempts between them. Here is what they’ve learnt and want to pass on to you.

I am Julie Brannan and I’m the Director of training and Education at the SRA and I am the person who is leading the introduction of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE).

As 2018 began to wind down and at F-LEX we looked ahead to the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC) London Institute in January 2019, F-LEX co-founder and CEO, Mary Bonsor, met Sarah Barrett-Vane, Legal Operations specialist and Consultant from SBV Consulting to discuss all things Legal Operations, how the legal market is changing and what lawyers of the future can do to ensure they move with the change.

I knew a friend who told his interviewers he “always wanted to be a lawyer.” His interviewers cut him off. “Always?” they asked. “But you weren’t always on this planet!” He stuttered. Got agitated. Went red. His palms got sweaty. It was as though every second lasted a hundred seconds longer. He just couldn’t wait for it all to be over.

Start with your contact details, the subject that you have studied and then your academic results.

We look for people who can demonstrate they are: fast learners, are interested in our clients and the legal industry, have managed some interesting projects (either at work or at uni) and have experience of an office environment - not necessarily in a law firm, though.

For the first interview, we thought we would ask the Founder of F-LEX, Mary Bonsor, 3 questions about how she set up F-LEX.