Power of Blogging: Women-led Partnerships

Power of Blogging

Women-led Partnerships: what is different and why does it matter?

Founding partnerships can take many different forms. Here, Deborah Watson pays tribute to two founders who present the core values they established in a womenled business, employing some of the highly talented professionals who want flexible or reduced-hours work.

Coote O’Grady was founded in 2016 after co-founders Caroline O’Grady and Stacey Coote identified a gap in the market for legal spend management services. 1 Having worked together as Legal Operations Directors at AIG in 2014, Caroline and Stacey knew their skills complemented each other and in starting their own venture they could create a business that not only saved companies millions on external legal spending, but with an internal culture that focused on a flexible work-life balance around their young families and where business performance and results were measured not hours spent in the office.

Women-led organisations and flexible working conditions

As with all new businesses, while establishing Coote O’Grady™, Caroline and Stacey faced various challenges along the way, but at all times they remained focused on staying loyal to the initial values they created. Caroline and Stacey received no external funding to start-up Coote O’Grady, making cash flow one of the initial early challenges but bringing in part-time and flexible workers meant they were able to recruit some really talented people at a lower cost than full-time employees. As co-founders, Caroline and Stacey were committed to not only being a women-led organisation, but also to offering employment opportunities to women who had struggled in the past. During the initial recruitment drive, Caroline and Stacey were alarmed to find how many professionally qualified people, especially women with young families, were struggling to get part-time roles in the legal sector. This further cemented their desire to drive a flexible working culture within Coote O’Grady™ – as women shouldn’t have to end their professional career just so they can do the school run, nor should they have to take a role they are overqualified for just to be able to get part-time work.

Procurement Leaders Award

In the early days, by leveraging historic relationships, Coote O’Grady won some big contracts which helped with initial growth and to establish a strong reference portfolio that helped win future business. Coote O’Grady also won the prestigious Procurement Leaders Award that helped grow the presence of their business in the legal spend management world. The partnership between Caroline and Stacey has continuously strengthened, even though they are based at opposite ends of the country, Caroline in the North East and Stacey in Essex. The pair’s qualities and strengths complement each other making it a winning combination for both business growth, and on a personal level, to reassure each other if and when any business challenges arise. As a small independent business, Caroline and Stacey focus on steady growth – doing the right thing for the business, its clients and employees without the growth and profit pressures experienced in larger organisations. In building strong partnerships with each other as well as both their clients and their clients’ law firms, Caroline and Stacey have managed to take Coote O’Grady™ into the business it is today – an organisation that is loyal to its original values yet provides great customer service over and above what is contracted for and has grown by over 70% against all odds during the pandemic.

Being women-led remains a core value at Coote O’Grady™, having leaders who understand the challenges of making work and family life compatible drives the beliefs from the top and both Caroline and Stacey have set an example to others in the organisation on how to make this work. Coote O’Grady™ have just recently expanded its senior leadership team and commitment to being women-led with the addition of two new (female) Partners and continue to grow its team of legal spend management consultants.

Coote O’Grady provide award-winning legal spend management solutions, technology, and consulting on all legal spend management issues, combining real expertise with a personalised service. ■

Deborah Watson

Deborah Watson

Head of Marketing | Partner Coote OʼGrady™

1. Legal spend management is the practice of controlling outside law firm spend. Legal Spend Management enables businesses to track legal spending, keep on top of budgets, capture and track savings, and perform analysis all in realtime, giving the client a useful business tool rather than just a means of checking invoices.