Matthew Kay is a very emotionally intelligent man. We’ve been having a ball working with him to promote Pinsent Masons’ Vario through an eye-catching campaign urging lawyers to connect with their human side. “In an age where the legal market is delivering increasing parts of the service through artificial intelligence”, he says, “human lawyers need to be astute about what it is they offer that’s different. AI can be excellent for increasing efficiencies, particularly in terms of speed and consistency of outcomes for clients, and that’s important, but clients want relationships with people, not robots. This is where lawyers’ emotional intelligence and a nuanced soft-skill-set becomes key.” (You can catch up with the Vario #NoClones campaign on the @PMVario Twitter stream, or by using the #NoClones hashtag.)
Indeed it’s this kind of enlightened thinking that distinguishes
Vario from its closest competitors in the contract lawyer market: an important
point of difference is how they select lawyers for client assignments not just
on the basis of the required legal expertise, but by matching individuals’
behavioural styles with the culture of the client organisations they are
being placed into. “It makes for a much more pleasant experience all round, which
encourages everyone to keep coming back for more: our clients tell us they like
this approach because our Varios fit in to their culture so much more quickly,
and get on so well with everyone else in the team; and our Varios say how much
more valued they feel on our placements, compared to other places they’ve
worked. We all spend so much of our waking life at work, it’s just as important
to get the “people” bit right, ie enjoying working with people you naturally get
on with, as it is to be able to master the technical parts of the job.”
Matthew took over the reins of Pinsent Masons’ Vario in December last year. Up to that point, although Vario had been phenomenally successful,
the business had developed pretty much by accident, its 30% year-on-year
expansion being more through natural market demand than by strategic
design. This is all now changing and Matthew has some very definite plans
for where he wants to take the business next.
“Whilst interest in contract lawyering has grown exponentially in
the last few years, for some reason it is seen very much as a London legal
market phenomenon. In the regions, although there is huge demand on the client
side for the contract lawyer option, the lawyers themselves are far less aware
of this as a career option. Their assumption is often that they would
have to compromise the level at which they’re operating in the legal market in
order to achieve a better work/life balance. We need to educate
them. The reality is they can have it all! A contract lawyer
anywhere in the country can, and should, expect to be doing interesting legal
work, on high-quality assignments, for big companies and house-hold names. We know
this because we are constantly receiving work from big name clients who
want contract lawyers in all different parts of the country outside London, and
we don’t always have enough of the right lawyers to meet the demand.”
Another of Matthew’s aims is to change perceptions that contract
lawyering is the preserve of people approaching the end of their careers, after
many years in private practice. “We’re keen to get to lawyers 1-8 years PQE and
challenge them to demand the career they really want, right from the
start. Why shouldn’t they have a good work/life balance right from
the beginning! I want to encourage lawyers to start as they mean to go on!”
We’ve only been working with Matthew for a short time, but already
the #NoClones campaign has shown how bold he is prepared to be, and how much
creative energy he is putting in to his ambitions for Vario. I have no
doubt he will achieve his aims of shaking the contract lawyer market up by
challenging its accepted demographics. This is most definitely a space …
and a man … to watch.
***
Donate by 18th July to Amnesty’s campaign against child
marriage and FGM, and you can double your impact. For these two Summer
months, the UK Government (Department of Education) has pledged to match ALL
donations Amnesty receives for its work to end FGM and early/forced marriage in
Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso.
The charity is planning a massive educational project to change cultural attitudes in the region. Local Amnesty members will reach out to different community groups such as schools, women’s groups, men’s groups, encouraging everyone to stand together against these inhuman practices and reject them as socially unacceptable.
Click here to Donate Now. There’s never been a better time.
***
Here’s a story that goes one
better than “Man bites dog”. I’m sure you are all familiar with
the Journalist’s/PR’s mantra “Dog bites man is not a story; but man bites dog,
now there’s a story”. Well, The Times recently ran a fabulous feature
entitled “Workplace drudgery drives feminists back to the kitchen”. It
tells the wonderfully counter-intuitive tale of how after decades of fighting
to escape the kitchen and enjoy the fulfilment of interesting careers, many
modern women are (as The Times’ David Sanderson and Rosemary Bennett explain)
“increasingly embracing domesticity as an antidote to the drudgery of the
workplace”.
***
Donate by 18th July to Amnesty’s campaign against child
marriage and FGM, and you can double your impact. For these two Summer
months, the UK Government (Department of Education) has pledged to match ALL
donations Amnesty receives for its work to end FGM and early/forced marriage in
Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso. The charity is planning a massive educational project to change cultural attitudes in the region. Local Amnesty members will reach out to different community groups such as schools, women’s groups, men’s groups, encouraging everyone to stand together against these inhuman practices and reject them as socially unacceptable.
Click here to Donate Now. There’s never been a better time.
***
Here’s a story that goes one
better than “Man bites dog”. I’m sure you are all familiar with
the Journalist’s/PR’s mantra “Dog bites man is not a story; but man bites dog,
now there’s a story”. Well, The Times recently ran a fabulous feature
entitled “Workplace drudgery drives feminists back to the kitchen”. It
tells the wonderfully counter-intuitive tale of how after decades of fighting
to escape the kitchen and enjoy the fulfilment of interesting careers, many
modern women are (as The Times’ David Sanderson and Rosemary Bennett explain)
“increasingly embracing domesticity as an antidote to the drudgery of the
workplace”.
I
love it! It’s about time the classic aphorism was updated. From now
on, when I’m coaching PR skills and storytelling, there’ll be no more “Man
bites dog”; only “Work drives feminists back to the kitchen”.
