Former National Grid GC Helen Mahy talks to Caroline Hill about her new role at Obelisk, an alternative outsourcing venture that employs experienced lawyer parents looking to return to work on a flexible basis

When National Grid's former general counsel Helen Mahy announced last year that she was leaving the FTSE 100 company to pursue interests outside of law, there were several avenues one might assume she would take.

Fiction writing was perhaps the most obvious – Mahy had already published books about her pet spaniel in The Adventures of Basil the Spaniel, raising funds for the Special Olympics Great Britain, which provides sporting opportunities for young adults and children with learning disabilities. 

In fact, while she continues to promote Basil's adventures, Mahy has landed two roles that will keep her involved in the world of law, including one as chairwoman of alternative legal outsourcing venture Obelisk.

Unique objectives

Obelisk's model is at first glance not too dissimilar from contract lawyers such as Axiom, Berwin Leighton Paisner's (BLP) Lawyers on Demand (LoD), or Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's alumni network. What they share is access to a pool of talent that wants to work flexibly, often including highly skilled ex-City female solicitors returning to work after having children.

However, the similarities in approach end there. The above organisations have on their books practising solicitors, both men and women who want to work flexibly for family or lifestyle reasons, but who in many cases are often offered high-level full or part-time legal positions on a temporary or project basis within organisations. 

Freshfields' alumni network includes around 50% mothers and claims to be gender neutral. Lawyers signed up to the scheme remain up to date with legal changes relevant to their practice group by undertaking training and know-how sessions at Freshfields to obtain CPD points.

Obelisk, on the other hand, almost exclusively targets mothers who are no longer practising and, in many cases, have been out of the workforce for so long that they may find it difficult to return to permanent work at their previous level of expertise and experience. 

The objective of Obelisk founders Dana Denis-Smith and Charlotte Devlin – and the reason Obelisk calls itself a legal outsourcing business – is to utilise this talent pool to perform low-level legal work such as non-disclosure agreements at a great saving to companies. 

The added value comes from the quality these lawyers bring at a low price. The company also offers bilingual lawyers for a legal document translation service. 

Mahy says: "They realised there is a huge, untapped pool of talent in the UK that is cost effective with no quality issues, and that companies could cut their legal costs by using this pool."

While BLP's LoD model, for example, appears to offer its lawyers more career progression, to the women joining Obelisk it means they do not have to fully re-commit to the workplace and are able to choose exactly how many hours a day or week they are able to work to fit around their family. 

Obelisk takes care of the logistics on a pooled capacity basis and is responsible for quality control. There is a clear social agenda behind the venture, which describes itself as a 'legal business with a heart'. The website goes on to say: "It is a radical departure from practices in the legal world because it does not focus on costs alone, but rather on how skilled talent can offer great value to clients while remaining engaged with the workplace in a truly flexible fashion." 

For the ex-City lawyers, it means they can continue to work in an area they trained for and may be able to work their way up to do higher-level work in time.

As to the market's business need for this sort of venture – which, after all, will be its making or its downfall irrespective of any social objectives or conscience – there are already big-name clients such as Ashurst that are turning to Obelisk to fill a gap. 

Because Obelisk is new and flexible, it is developing in partnership with its clients. "We are able to fill the gaps firms want us to fill, even if they are odd or niche," explains Mahy (pictured).

Much like contract lawyers, Obelisk is offering secondments whereby lawyers work within the body of the client's organisation. However, it is likely that those secondments will be covered by two or three people on a flexible basis. 

Mahy says: "Some clients want one person five days a week and it may be that Obelisk is not right for that organisation, but purchasers of legal services are having to look at being more flexible and cutting their costs."

Obelisk certainly comes at a time when general counsel are under more pressure than ever to cut costs and are therefore increasingly open to ventures that offer more flexibility of services and charges than traditional service providers. In her role as chairwoman, Mahy says her conversations with GCs from her former life are leading to some very interesting ideas. 

The company offers flexible billing arrangements that are most appropriate for the type of work being done; for example, for translation work it largely charges by the page. It works with clients to decide the best way to bill and discusses with the client their budget constraints and any other issues. One question is whether this model will ultimately make enough money to be worthwhile. 

"New models are always a good thing and it sounds like they can help out with overflow and use talent in a cost-effective way," says the founder of one disruptive model. "But it is not an outsourcing business in the true sense – the principles behind the outsourcing model are to have processes and technology in a very efficient way, but you're not going to achieve that with a few homeworkers."

It's an interesting point and would be particularly valid if Obelisk were going for a 'pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap' model. "But with Obelisk we are using people who are, one could argue, overqualified to do the work but that is where the added value comes," Mahy says.

So far Obelisk's numbers are small: it has 120 ex-City lawyers on its books. That pales in comparison to the likes of Freshfields' alumni of up to 3,500, and Axiom, which now has around 1,000 employees. 

But its numbers are growing and for now it has the advantage of a lack of unwieldiness. One criticism of Axiom – which works for clients such as UBS, Virgin Money and Citigroup, and is on Vodafone's panel – is that it is at risk of becoming expensive.

Other projects

While Obelisk goes a long way towards fulfilling Mahy's objectives to help improve diversity, she has also just taken on a role as a part-time consultant for global diversity consultancy Schneider-Ross, which she worked with at National Grid. Among the top clients at Schneider-Ross are Barclays, the BBC, BT, BP, Vodafone and Standard Chartered.

Obelisk undertakes cultural and board evaluations – a role that is particularly attractive to Mahy and which is highly topical after the findings of the 2011 Davies Report. The report recommends that FTSE 350 companies set out the percentage of women they aim to have on their boards in 2013 and 2015, and that FTSE 100 boards aim for a minimum of 25% female representation by 2015.

"We work with companies to create value from diversity and address some of the issues diversity brings," says Mahy.

She will be using her coaching skills to coach and mentor women in business. "I'm really excited because I'm passionate about diversity," she adds.

Elsewhere, Mahy will also continue in her role on the board of international public transport company Stagecoach, and she is looking for another non-executive role. However, much like the organisations she works for, Mahy's biggest objective having left the glare of full-time, high-profile employment is to work flexibly and spend time with her family. 

She is pursuing many avenues but on the proviso that, with a bit of notice, she can finally enjoy a long weekend and switch off her mobile phone.