Contributors
Meet Rachel. Or RJ = WBD2. Womble Bond Dickinson’s secret formula. A formidable mind in alternative legal services, she reads the world through a different kind of language. Numbers. Patterns. And unlikely connections. A big-picture thinker, she builds bridges between groundbreaking ideas and people. As a Partner in legal innovation and change management, her job is to find better ways of working and make them a reality.
With a passion for maths, physics and chemistry, Rachel may have entered the world of law by accident, but she’s stayed and thrived through her own flair and determination. It comes as no surprise that she pores over the latest sci-fi novels in her free time. And she loves stories that bring a slice of magic to the real world. After setting herself a goal to read a book a month this year, one of her most recent page turners was the iconic Britney Spears autobiography ‘The Woman in Me’. Far from a ‘holiday read’, it was one that Rachel analysed from a lawyer’s perspective, questioning Britney’s treatment and the detail behind her conservatorship. Would she have been viewed this way if she were a man? How would her case be different?
Rachel’s got a mind that’s ready and waiting to ask the next question. But there is a universal answer she always comes back to. The number 42. Her favourite novel is Douglas Adams’s ‘The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’. It turns out that Zaphod Beeblebrox (the galaxy’s president) and Rachel have a lot in common. Not in personality, but in circumstance. Neither of them set out to end up in their position, but their unique skills and experience make them exactly the right person for the job.
Rachel started out in one of the most people-facing areas of a commercial firm – employment law. During that time, she dealt with discrimination claims and learned how to bring two opposing parties together, creating the right conditions for both sides to move forward. Now, after spending the best part of a decade advising people on how to get the best from their employees, Rachel is putting it into practice.
She took the leap to WBD Advance, Womble Bond Dickinson's alternative legal services department, in 2016. Back when the team had no name, no boss, and no staff. It was a new and interesting branch, and it was happening right in front of her eyes. So, she put her hand up for the job. It was a chance to step away from her specialism and use her skills in an entirely new way. She worked alongside an ex-Civil Service Director and wider team to create a business unit to be proud of. They’re the masterminds who use flexible resource, design thinking and tech to deliver legal services. Although she’s not a coder herself, Rachel decodes problems ready for our developers to work on – and liaises with the rest of the business. It’s all about agility, process design and being the crucial link between lawyers, clients, and bespoke solutions. We all need innovative tech, but it’s the people who really are the key.
Rachel’s superpower? Keeping lots of different pieces of information in her head at once. Employment. Commercial. Corporate. Banking. Litigation. Insurance. Construction. Energy. Charities. Private Capital. She joins dots that you might not have seen or didn’t know existed. And she gets a thrill out of creating a process to help everything run smoothly – even when there was none before. Rachel believes that if you can distil your problem down to the basic process, you can always make it better. Objective + method statement + results = impact. It’s that seemingly simple scientific approach that’s seen her career soar, and her clients succeed.
When it comes to work and life, you’ll find Rachel mastering balance of a different kind as she braves the Devonshire waves on her inflatable paddleboard in her free time. In previous years, she’s even enjoyed tending to her family’s pet rabbits, Rocket and Bam Bam (who were as adept at hopping between tasks as she is).
As a self-proclaimed ‘fair-weather’ runner, Rachel has pounded the pavements of the Plymouth half marathon multiple times. Recently, she’s switched trainers for travel, as she enthusiastically supported her husband when he took on the Berlin marathon. Her drive for facing new challenges is unique. And her determination comes from within. In fact, she can’t remember a time where she hasn’t had a project in some shape or form. Holiday let, event planning and sporting challenges – you name it, Rachel will take it on. She’s currently renovating her West Country home to make it as energy efficient as possible. That means super insulation, triple-glazed windows, and even a water-saving plumbing system. All so she can say that she did everything in her power to protect the planet. Another example of Rachel identifying something that could be improved, and making it happen.
“We could do this in a better way” is something that Rachel often tells clients and colleagues. And it shows the value she brings. If she sees a new, more logical solution, she won’t settle until there are steps in place to get us there. She recently had a client come to her with a warehouse full of documents that needed to be categorized and stored correctly. Traditionally, a team member would travel to the warehouse and stay there for six months to complete the mammoth job. But Rachel saw a way to do things differently, split the workload, and improve the process. So, with the help of her team, she got the boxes shipped directly to their offices in Plymouth – for a lower cost. A triumph of lateral thinking. Spreadsheet maestro, progress mapper and chief logistician – don’t be surprised if Rachel responds to your problem with, “What you actually need, is this”.
From her A-level results to her career pathway, her achievements have surprised people throughout her life. But they’ve never surprised us at Womble Bond Dickinson. Rachel works with all sides of the business and she’s a problem-solver in the truest sense. Someone to rely on to consistently deliver the best results for clients.
When she’s not focusing on the next client project, she mentors and supports paralegals, trainees and apprentices at the start of their working lives. She relishes the opportunity to shape their experiences and to share her perspective with the next generation of legal minds. It’s work that’s seen her create new job titles and funnel people toward positions that they show a natural talent for. She has spotted paralegals with an aptitude for tech or project management, who were working in more general roles. With her encouragement, they took the leap to a more specialist position – giving them an interesting and impressive avenue to start their careers from.
A guiding voice, Rachel’s not afraid to tell trainees that she isn’t always as confident as she appears. Because sometimes you aren’t. She knows that people need to hear those honest stories to realise that we’re all human and we’re learning. And she’s been there. She’s experienced the daunting task of going to large auditoriums and speaking to a sea of supermarket managers. Something that to her, felt like performing a headline set at Wembley. She’s lived the nerves that come with delivering new information to the board. And the trepidation of starting a new project at home. But her can-do approach means that once she’s faced a challenge, she knows she can conquer it. And she’ll always try to do it better next time. Part of her role is having the time, the budget and the space to explore alternatives, even if they don’t succeed – and learn from them as a result.
A real team player, she knows that her unit only works because it’s a powerful collective. The unsung heroes of law, when they’re doing their jobs well, alternative legal services is a department that’s not always talked about. But that’s part of the excitement – they’re the behind-the-scenes crew, working to make everything run smoothly. With over 100 people in different locations, Rachel uses everything she’s learned from employment law to harness the scale and potential of her team. Where lawyers might be stereotypically branded perfectionists, Rachel's passionate about giving her team the space and responsibility to do great work – because she respects and trusts their skills.
And Rachel and her team never face the same problem twice. Every solution they create is bespoke to the client and their needs. What Rachel does, is act as the glue. She helps the firm and clients use knowledge and expertise gleaned from seemingly unrelated projects – by improving processes and connecting people. It’s a skill that’s like gold dust. And Rachel is the type of person who'll always find a way. A way of approaching a task differently. A way of bringing experts together. A way of honing what we do here at Womble Bond Dickinson. Her unique perspective sees her go above and beyond to question the status quo – and that’s where real innovation happens.
