Dana Denis-Smith

Feature

Bhini Phagura of Rayden Solicitors interviews Dana Denis-Smith, founder and Chief Executive of legal services provider, Obelisk Support

Dana Denis-Smith

Dana gives an insight into her motivations and challenges in setting up her business, discusses flexible and agile working, the impact of the pandemic and what’s next for the First 100 Years Project.

What motivated you to set up Obelisk? How does it work?

I qualified in 2007 in one of the magic circle law firms and had already left the legal profession when I came up with the idea for Obelisk. This was my second business as an entrepreneur and I was quite surprised to be making a return to the legal sector. A lot of things that had played on my mind came together in this new business idea – many of my women lawyer friends seemed to drop out once they had kids; my experience working in a top firm was of 24/7 working pattern which seemed to suit men but not women and often being present as opposed to having something to do seemed to be the motivation for many of those that stayed late in the office; also there was a rising trend in outsourcing offshore for cost reduction reasons as a result of the 2008 financial crisis. So all in all I thought we could provide a flexible legal support solution built around people that needed to fit work around other commitments rather than spend all their time at work.

The idea was simple: corporate clients needed work with overflow and ad hoc tasks; our pre-vetted lawyers would be available for this kind of work and when the request came we would be tasked with ensuring the match of skill and of availability across the board so clients would get their work done on time whilst the lawyers worked only as much or as little as they had available.

Did you encounter any challenges when you set up Obelisk and how did you overcome these? In particular, were law firms / those in the legal sector sceptical?

Setting up a new business always presents challenges for sure. One challenge I did not face was the number of women that were desperate to get to work. Many told me how they felt no one wanted their skills and assumed they were unwilling to work when in fact what they needed was flexibility to work and bring up a family at the same time.

I tried to fundraise but without success – I met angel investors who thought I had a great business idea but they were not very keen to invest into a business started by a pregnant woman. All challenges are opportunities – in the end, I grew the business organically.

The client survey we conducted very early on – August 2010 – was not an encouraging read for a new business. Many said they would never contemplate outsourcing work and even less so to a business with home-based workers.

Do you think the pandemic has accelerated the move to flexible/agile working in the legal sector – and how do you see the future of work post-pandemic? Has the battle of being allowed to work more flexibly been won?

There will for sure be lasting change around flexible work patterns as a result of the pandemic – and not one day too soon! It’s something that many had needed and were denied or afraid to ask for before so I am really pleased that we will have this lasting legacy at least. However, I have already seen firms are trying to set inflexible frameworks to manage flexible working patterns – management struggles with the ‘how to’ manage a workforce that works in a different, hybrid way especially when the result of the change is more of the power shifting from management to an empowered employee workforce. This is an uncomfortable place for top down management so the transition will be difficult and there will be a tag of war between management and employees. In the end results will win and as we have seen if people continue to be productive and produce strong results for businesses, then the case for flexible working is proven.

Given concerns about loneliness and isolation amongst people working from home due to the pandemic, are you able to offer any advice to employers in support their employees at what is clearly a very difficult time?

There is so much that can be done for teams. Firstly, there is not too much communication in times like this – even telling people you have an open telephone line policy to raise any concerns can help; make sure you buddy people up to have someone to talk from work but not about work. We had many more huddles – social not only work related – as soon as the pandemic struck. They were never compulsory but just a safe room to chat when people needed it; we shared ‘remedies’ and also had 30 minutes of games or something to relax every now and then. It’s critical to communicate repeatedly no one is alone and they are supported and mean it.

Has the implementation of flexible/agile working in your business met your expectations and do you have any further developments planned?

We’ve always had a mixed model with everyone in my team having a mix of office/ home based working days which they set to suit them. One change we have made in the last 6 months or so is that we recruited new members of the team but even further afield – one is based in the south of France, another in the Midlands so not as easy to commute but we have managed to make it work really well and it will continue even when the current health emergency subsides. So even we have become even more flexible!

We have also started developing – with a grant from Innovate UK – a new technology tool to help other organisations bring their team together more easily and help them with any management challenges. So how people will work if very much part of our DNA and we are constantly looking for innovating more and more in this space.

What general advice could you give a business that is considering implementing flexible/agile working, but is concerned about how this might adversely impact employee productivity?

An unhappy employee is not a productive employee and very often we don’t get the best out of people when we impose an inflexible working pattern that poses a struggle for them on a daily basis. My advice to any business is to really redefine ‘trust’ and ask themselves what is requiring them to be so inflexible in the schedule they set for their employees. In professional organisations, having a strict schedule or a rota is not necessary for delivering a good quality services so what is the reason for maintaining a 9-5 on site working pattern. If it is control, then perhaps the concept of ‘trust’ is eroding and the culture of the organisation really needs to be rebuilt.

Please can you tell us about ‘The First 100 Years’ project, including its aims and a summary of progress to date? What are your future goals and where can our readers find further information and keep abreast of developments?

The First 100 Years (www.first100years.org.uk) is the campaign that led the celebrations of 100 years of women being allowed to join the legal profession as a result of the passing of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919. I had this idea of creating a go to place where women could discover their history, trace the journey of women in law and discover fantastic role models. I thought the centenary presented us with a once in a lifetime opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women in law and discussed the challenges remaining in a context that was a more positive one, framed by the profession seeing a surge of women qualifying. I was keen we did not fight battles that have already been won and that we continued to advance women’s careers and aspirations against a background of much historical achievement.

Initially we had a few plans – to record the lives and work of leading women pioneers of our generation but then we became much bigger and have produced so many things: a book, podcast, films, touring exhibition, events, conferences, mosaics, photographs and, of course, the first artwork to depict women lawyers to celebrate the centenary now hanging in the UK Supreme Court – Legacy 2019 by Catherine Yass. You can read all about what we achieved in our impact report (https://next100years.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ First100Years_ImpactReport.pdf?mc_cid=5ec95f1f97&mc_ eid=e0d4b37e3a).

The campaign continues with its new chapter, Next 100 Years – we will continue to advance and inspire women and the next generations coming through. We have a lecture series giving a platform to great women legal experts to show their brilliant minds (Heilborn Lectures), a new book (In her words) based on our photography days held around the world just before the pandemic onset as well as a new podcast series, Kids Law (www.kidslaw.info) discussing how law affects children as they grow up in a series of interviews hosted by Lucinda Acland and my daughter, Alma-Constance, who suggested we needed to do more to help families navigate the maze that is the law.

Is there any advice you can offer women who, as a result of the pandemic, might be struggling to balance childcare / home schooling responsibilities with the demands of a fastpaced legal role?

If you have a partner, ensure they pull their weight – delegate chores and ask them to do them. It is more difficult for those without nearby help and the bubble system is very confusing and not always easy to rely on. It’s hard to see the end of the tunnel when the weather is bad and the situation is worsening but thinking of spring, looking for the early signs – the other day I spotted the first snowdrops whilst walking by a church – it is amazing how uplifting this can be. Always remember the small things that can delight and look out for those – they can provide joy and resilience when times are hard. ■

Bhini Phagura