Smarter Law updates: life as a legal operations graduate

We are one of Australia’s first law firms to introduce a formal legal operations graduate program, where we offer a law graduate a chance to join our Legal Operations team. Our legal ops grad learns about Legal Operations concepts, innovation and what it’s like to bring lawyers along the journey. It’s a great opportunity to learn how to practice Smarter Law and also try out an alternative pathway for a legal career.

Our latest graduate is Bella Beischer. Bella explains what she enjoys about the role and the contribution she makes to the firm’s Smarter Law approach.

As a recent law graduate, I can say that not everyone completes their degree eager to immerse themselves into the world of billable hours, virtual court rooms and legal research. Passionate about innovation and legal technology, I wanted to be part of a culture where trying new things is both celebrated and rewarded and opening minds to the possibility of working in a different way is seen as the ‘the norm.’

Playing a part in reimagining how legal services are delivered to satisfy contemporary client needs is both exciting and rewarding. I enjoy the innovation journey and collaborating with people from different practice groups to bring an idea to life.

I also value working in a team that is people focused. Our culture of continuous improvement means that we are constantly developing ways to enhance the user experience and simplify legal processes for both lawyers and clients. Another benefit of working in Legal Ops is that I have developed my skills in a variety of areas – project management, business analysis, change management and design thinking, to name a few.

A key focus of my role is to encourage lawyers in the firm to incorporate Smarter Law initiatives into their daily work practices. This is achieved by supporting the delivery of presentations and workshops or publishing communications on the firm’s intranet pages. I have learnt to navigate and test a variety of client facing portals and systems and assist in researching new products to help resolve problems identified in the firm.

Part of working in Legal Operations involves being an agent of change. It is about transforming behaviours and mindsets so that lawyers are open to adopting new ways of working. I enjoy being part of a team that seeks to educate and motivate lawyers to transcend traditional ways of working and engage with Smarter Law.

Health and fitness. I am training for my first marathon, which has been very rewarding albeit exhausting!