Balance Legal is a law firm with a difference. It is unique in both the way it services its clients and in the experience offered to its legal staff.
Unlike other law firms Balance Legal's core business is in providing its clients with secondment lawyers and consultants who work directly in client organisations. In this way Balance Legal's clients have the benefit of having legal expertise at their disposal while Balance Legal lawyers are able to develop a deeper understanding of their clients' needs.
Unique opportunity for users of legal services
Each secondment is tailored to suit the client and its needs. Some of the more typical examples of where a client might utilise Balance Legal's secondment model are where:
- a major undertaking, project or transaction leads to elevated legal requirements;
- the usual source of legal expertise (such as existing in-house counsel) is temporarily unavailable; or
- the client is looking to hire in-house legal counsel and either needs to create a business case for doing so or wishes to fill that role during the recruitment process.
The Balance Legal secondment model provides:
- access to top tier trained senior lawyers with the required skill set who work directly in its organisation;
- flexibility to tailor the secondment to the client's specific needs - whether that be to match workflows, project timing or absence of existing legal counsel; and
- the ability to manage legal spend by engaging an in-house lawyer to match business needs.
Balance Legal clients therefore take the benefit of a quality in-house legal resource supported by the entire Balance Legal team, while maintaining the flexibility to only engage lawyers as business needs demand.
Balance Legal's secondment model allows businesses to better manage their legal spend. The term of the secondment and the rates are agreed and fixed up-front. Depending on the term of the assignment and the experience and level of expertise of the seconded lawyer, secondment rates are between $150 to $250 an hour.
Unique opportunity for legal staff
Balance Legal recognises that lawyers want quality work, diverse experiences and an active involvement in the decision making processes of the organisations they represent. A secondment directly into a client's business can deliver those objectives and provide a unique perspective to a secondee.
For this reason secondments have always been popular with lawyers working in private practice but opportunities are often limited. Balance Legal has been structured so that secondments are its core business.
Once a particular secondment is over a Balance Legal lawyer will move to a new secondment with different challenges, but will bring the skills and experience from previous assignments to bear.
Finally since employees are seconded on a fixed contract by contract basis, Balance Legal is able to deliver more flexible working arrangements to its employees. Balance Legal welcomes lawyers who do not want to work full time and recognises the commitments of its employees outside the work-place.
Experience and capability
Balance Legal was established in July 2008 by former Freehills Partner Ken Jagger and Freehills Senior Associates Wade Taseff and Haaron Bokhari. The Balance Legal team is made up of experienced lawyers who have worked in major law firms and in senior in-house roles. The firm has expertise in the infrastructure, resources, construction, property development, banking and financial sectors as well as employing legal practitioners who have employee relations and litigation expertise.
To date Balance legal has provided secondees to major international mining and oil and gas companies, top ASX listed construction companies, government/semi government utilities and to financial services companies.
T: + 61 (0) 8 6380 7600
F: + 61 (0) 8 6380 7699
E: info@balancelegal.com.au
www.balancelegal.com.au