Law Squared celebrates 6 months since London launch!
Law Squared Founder & Director, Demetrio Zema, returned from London this week, having spent a busy fortnight meeting with UK-based clients and supporters and growing the Law Squared UK team.
It is just six months since Law Squared expanded internationally with the core objective of providing Australian businesses in the UK - and UK businesses with a presence in Australia – dual jurisdictional legal support, offering one point of engagement and removing the friction clients face with global partnership firms.
In this relatively short time, Law Squared has positioned itself as a true extension of our clients’ global teams, a value proposition that has resonated strongly with those businesses requiring time zone-aligned, on-ground, legal support across:
· Commercial (technology, privacy, GDPR and intellectual property);
· Corporate (mid-market M&A and capital raising);
· Employment law ; and
· Insurance (claims, coverage advice and product advice)
Law Squared’s Human Centred Law ethos has also resonated strongly in the new market where true alternatives to the traditional legal model are scarce: “Our commitment to providing cost certainty at every step of the engagement through fixed-fee pricing is a real talking point with UK businesses and legal teams,” says Demetrio, “Having an Australian law firm on the ground offering real time Australian and UK legal support has been a welcome addition to a number of our clients legal panel needs.”
During this most recent visit, Demetrio and Commercial lawyer, Alexandra Geelan, co-hosted dinners with the Office of the Victorian Agent General in London (Global Victoria) and the UK Department for International Trade, bringing together legal and business leaders with cross jurisdictional teams and businesses looking to understand the opportunities and share learnings for cross-border trade.
“Our clients and referrals partners have highlighted the value they see in Law Squared’s dual jurisdictional presence, providing much needed reprieve for legal teams and executives in the alternate time zone and ensuring their teams have real time, trusted support. Aside from working with clients expanding into new jurisdictions, we have a number of global legal teams headquartered in Australia, leveraging our UK presence to provide support to their local team.” said Alexandra, who is leading Law Squared’s UK operations.
With the Australia and the UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) due to be ratified and implemented in the coming months, there are a number of key advantages businesses (and people) are looking to leverage.
The FTA will not only facilitate the greater free movement of people, mutual recognition of qualifications, the removal or limitation on tariffs and the overall focus on stronger trade is of huge benefit to businesses in both countries. Managing cross border teams is not without its challenges though and having relocated from Brisbane to London, Alexandra offered a first-hand perspective: “Clear communication around availability and expectations, staying “human” through voice memos and short videos, and a strong and continuous focus on culture through regular secondments, are key to delivering a more seamless cross-border team experience.”
Speaking on his return, Demetrio said: “I am excited and proud of what we've achieved in just six months. By putting the needs and experiences of our clients and our team first, we have built a model that is poised to shape the future of the legal profession globally!
If you’re a business in need of dual jurisdictional support, or a lawyer (UK or AU) looking for a new role, or if you’re an Australian friend of Law Squared needing a space to work from while visiting London- we’d love to hear from you! Reach out here.