Mar 27, 2018
Do you feel stuck, disillusioned or otherwise uninspired in your current position? The good news is that in today’s legal landscape, there are more ways than ever to approach a career and find something that suits you better. In the latest chapter of Beyond Billables’ quest to find people who’ve successfully transitioned careers we spoke to Melissa Lyon.
Melissa is a solicitor-turned business development consultant and associate principal at NewLaw firm Hive Legal. Melissa has weathered a few storms in her legal career and has ultimately maneuvered herself into a sweet spot. She currently focuses her energy on clients’ needs, including delivering the best outcomes for them and continually improving the way that legal services are delivered.
Melissa has a lot of wisdom to share, and in our conversation, we dug deep into flexible work practices, her core business philosophy and her approach to organisational culture, and we speculated about what future law firms might look like.
Listen to the full episode to hear all of the above, plus all of this too:
- What a law firm should be like
- The impetus for Melissa’s shift into business development
- The challenges that Hive has faced with their varied approach
- Melissa’s early life and how it shaped her career
- What a healthy work culture looks like
- The value of progressive thought around work flexibility
- Why flexibility is a cultural issue, not a gender-based one
- Why Melissa doesn’t believe in the ‘work-life juggle’
- Why the ‘why’ is more important than the ‘what’ or the ‘how’
- What a good business development manager looks like
- What’s different about Hive Legal
- How lawyers can foster an entrepreneurial mindset
- The benefits of not using timesheets
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