Interview Session by Stephanos Christodoulou and Savvas Skordellis
FLEX Legal is a legal tech start-up established in 2016 by CEO and co-founder Mary Bonsor. They use automation to create an easier recruitment process for applicants, law firms and legal departments.
Mary came with the idea when she was a law student who found it very hard to find legal work experience. When Mary qualified, her law firm was right next to a law school and it was upon seeing law students outside the window that the lightbulb moment hit her! The idea was to create a platform that connects the students and law firms.
Mary took the transition from practice to start-up her own company in a risk-averse manner. Mary conducted her research over a year and met James, her co-founder, and raised £120,000 in funds before she left private practice. Funding was the most important step for Mary because she needed a salary which would allow her to leave her career as a lawyer. But it also gave them the time to gain that security that other people believed in FLEX Legal as much as they did.
“When we started getting investors keen, that is when I handed in my notice and it gave me the courage to give it a go!”
Offering brighter opportunities for law students all over the world…
FLEX Legal separates itself from the other companies in the legal tech industry, through its ethos which is focused on the technology and the people. The technology is vital for them to operate, but without the people, they would not function. As fundamentally, Mary states: “Law and recruitment is a business of people – people buy off people, and so we still think it is essential to build relationships with both candidates and companies.”
With every start-up there comes challenges, and FLEX Legal had their fair share of them. Mary said they did not have terms and conditions and did not have a lot of money to spend on the operations side of the business. Their business model was wrong, and it was something they had to adapt to. As well as working in a small team of two, they had the daunting task of learning on the job, which was fun and rewarding.
Mary said she had to: “ ’just give it a go’ – which is now my motto.” She advises that you learn a lot more from trying things out instead of overthinking them.
As with any new venture, mistakes happen and it is important how you learn from them. Mary says they made mistakes, but that’s where all the learning comes from. An example of this is that they nearly placed someone who did not have the right visa, but as they noticed it they realised the importance of compliance and how the tech could help them with this.
This led them to develop their work portal and James created a Right to Work section, which only allows placements once this has been approved. As Mary stated earlier, you learn the most from doing, and that is incredibly important in building tech.
How the pandemic had affected the legal world and upcoming business…
As the COVID-19 pandemic hit FLEX Legal was hit with its fair share of difficulties, as many business and individuals have faced in these trying times. They lost 50% of their revenue overnight and had very few bookings over the summer with firms trying to cut costs. As with any business maintaining company morale has been a struggle with Mary highlighting issues, such as childcare responsibilities in the shift to working from home.
Despite these difficulties, FLEX Legal has come out stronger and this time has allowed the company to rebrand and grow again. Mary emphasises the support staff had for each other with fun, social game meetings and bi-weekly one-on-one sessions with staff across the company to build and maintain those crucial relationships that help a company thrive.
Mary has ended this year with a high after winning Entrepreneur of the Year at the Women in Law Awards 2020! She remains humble in her success awarding the success of FLEX to her team. For Mary, the award is a “great recognition of the hard work we do – and our mission is still to help as many law students and non-lawyers find a life/work balance or achieve their career goals.”
Future prospects for the company…
In 2021, the company will be granting law students free access to their digital online diary so they can record their work experience all in one place. This will help foster and create a community to help law students with their careers. Mary is really excited for this as her passion is to help budding lawyers in their new careers and being able to do this for free is an exciting venture.
In a world where graduates have been struggling to find their feet in the professional world, Mary has some advice for new graduates embarking in their legal careers:
– “Find your strengths and focus on what you love as the legal sector is huge with roles from legal tech to project management.”
– “Network! Network! Network!”
– “LinkedIn is a great platform to do this, as people love to help, and it is very easy to reach out to those who you admire.”
– “Finally, be kind, 2020 has been tough on everyone and reaching out and checking in with your friends and colleagues are needed in this world!”
Flex Legal has so far been recognised as Legal Supplier Innovation winner at the LexisNexis Legal Awards 2018; Legal Innovator of the Year winner at the Legal Business Awards 2018; Resource Management winner at the Legal Week Innovation Awards 2019, and was Best Technology Product runner up at The Lawyer Awards 2019.
We would like to thank Mary Bonsor for her time and we wish FLEX Legal all the best in the future.
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