Earlier this year, Vario launched in the Middle East with a Flexible Services offering based out of Pinsent Masons’ Dubai office. At the time, we sat down with Britta Spachtholz to get her thoughts on the challenge of and opportunity to grow our business in the UAE. This chat took place at the beginning of her 3-month secondment, which has now came to an end earlier this month.
This week, we sat down with our new Account Director, Julian Sarkadi, who will be spearheading our Flexible Services offering from the UAE. Like many of his Vario colleagues, Julian has a background in legal practice giving him invaluable insights into the obstacles facing modern legal teams.
What is your professional background prior to joining Vario?
I’m an Australian-qualified lawyer and started my career in private practice as a corporate/commercial lawyer in Hong Kong before going in-house and working in finance. My first introduction to the alternative legal services market was back in 2015 when I actually worked as a consultant lawyer myself.
I then led the international expansion of an independent ALSP and following that, I took a 6-year pivot into fintech, leading GTM Strategy for a NYSE-listed tech company. Looking ahead, I’m very excited about the prospects for Vario in the Middle East and am keen to play a role in our expansion.
What do you think makes our flexible services business stand out?
I think that our offering is truly unique ultimately due to our firm culture and the high standards we set for ourselves. That includes the lawyers we accept onto our bench. The way Vario approaches the market is a reflection of how Pinsent Masons as a firm operates. Innovative, flexible and solution focused.
It’s not enough to put forward an innovative service if the wider firm culture doesn’t truly embrace it. I think that’s where we really stand out and I have already seen that our clients recognise this.
In addition, the scope of services we are able to offer is much greater than many of our competitors. We have established teams for Managed Legal Services, Legal Project Management, Company Secretarial Services and Consulting for Process & Technology. Each of these offerings adds immense value to our clients as it allows us to address legal and commercial issues holistically.
How can a Vario Consultant help to benefit clients’ legal teams?
Not only do we place highly qualified legal experts with clients, but we also ensure that they are supported by the knowhow and infrastructure of Pinsent Masons. This allows clients to approach us with their resourcing needs and we then provide them with the right personnel without the need for lengthy and expensive recruitment or onboarding processes.
Having access to the vast resources of Pinsent Masons, allows us to provide our consultants with training and sector specific expertise that lone consultants would not have access to. As a part of this training, we now offer bespoke programmes to up-skill flexible lawyers in new areas of law where there is high demand but a shortage of skills. For example, we have recently provided training of this sort to a flexible consultant who specialised in oil and gas, to allow them to work in the renewables sector.
What do you perceive to be the biggest opportunity for client growth in the Middle East?
I believe we have a great opportunity to establish ourselves as the market leaders in the Middle East by raising the bar on the level of service clients expect from ALSPs. We’ll do this by continuing to work closely with the whole firm to deliver a truly integrated service that focusses on creating real value for our clients.
Specifically, we’ll continue developing our diversified and experienced local legal bench to ensure we are providing the best talent to our clients in addition to creating opportunities to bring new clients to the firm.
What do you see as your biggest challenge and how are you looking to address this?
I think we need to firstly educate the local market on the ALSP model and clearly convey where we can add value. This is both a challenge and also a great opportunity, as we are able to position ourselves as the ALSP thought leaders in the Middle East.
To implement this strategy, we need to understand how the Vario model best fits within the local market. We’ll achieve this by listening to our clients and being responsive and flexible to their needs. Of course, the continuing cooperation and knowledge of our partners and the rest of our team is also an invaluable resource.
If you’d like to know more about our Flexible Services offering – both within the Middle East and beyond – get in touch with a member of our team.
For further information, please contact:
Henry Hilton, Pinsent Masons
henry.hilton@pinsentmasons.com
