- , "I am fortunate to work at Flex by Fenwick, a firm that excels at matching legal professionals with opportunities aligned to our expertise while fostering growth in new and emerging areas. Their ability and comment to identify exciting, personalized legal opportunities with a diverse clientele has allowed me to further hone my skills across entertainment, media and advertising law, while…, One of the most valuable aspects of working with Flex by Fenwick is its unmatched network of attorneys and resources. With specialists across diverse fields, I can seamlessly leverage its pipeline of legal talent to ensure clients receive the highest level of support and solutions, regardless of a matter’s complexity., I am especially grateful for the flexibility and support Flex by Fenwick provides, enabling me to balance a rewarding career with personal responsibilities, including caring for aging parents and embracing new phases of life after marriage. This structure, coupled with access to the firm’s extensive resources, makes Flex by Fenwick a truly exceptional environment for both personal and…, Brandii offers deep experience in entertainment and media. She supports leading content creators, media companies and startups with complex distribution and production agreements, advertising contracts and general commercial transactions. Our clients value Brandii’s extensive industry knowledge, pragmatic approach, and collaborative style making her a trusted advisor across high-stakes business…
- , “I work with FLEX because I love working with my clients. My clients are sophisticated in-house technology and privacy teams that reach out with interesting matters. They are also great people to work with to boot! I feel a great sense of satisfaction when I see that I have lightened the load of increasingly over-stretched legal teams.”, Kathleen is a technology transactions, product, and privacy attorney with experience collaborating with development and business teams at cutting-edge technology companies. She has supported a range of clients through FLEX that have benefited from Kathleen's depth and breadth of experience. In addition to advising on complex product and privacy issues, Kathleen can be hands-on with DPA…
- , "FLEX has provided me the opportunity to move around and work with a variety of clients who are smart, innovative and great leaders, all while providing me with the stability and convenience of working within the FLEX program.", Agnes is an experienced in-house technology transactions and product counsel who supports FLEX clients with drafting and negotiating agreements, and advising on marketing, privacy, and product compliance, among other legal matters. She has worked with a multinational technology company through FLEX on multiple engagements and has proven to be an efficient resource across legal teams and product…
- During our team retreat, FLEX partnered with Fenwick’s Corporate Social Responsibility Department and nonprofit Vote Forward to boost voter participation in this election season. The team hit its target of 100 non-partisan, personalized, handwritten letters encouraging fellow Americans to vote. This year, we focused on Georgia as a state with close elections and the home of our own Jené Nichols…
- Marvel Comics and DC Comics jointly held trademark registration for the terms “Super Hero” and “Super Heroes” since the 1970s. They had successfully defended these trademarks in the US and internationally until this September , when they did not respond to a challenge to their exclusive rights. Earlier this year, DC Comics attempted to block the promotion of the series, “The Super Babies”,…
- Fenwick partner Ralph Pais founded FLEX in 2010 in response to client demand for a high-quality option for day-to-day legal needs with predictable billing. Pais identified this need particularly among early-stage clients who were moving into later stages of growth. For many FLEX clients, a FLEX attorney is the first in-house legal hire. What do tech companies weigh when deciding to hire their…, Company growth, : As a technology company scales in size and revenue, it may find the need for regular legal counsel to advise on a broad range of day-to-day issues, including commercial agreements, product growth, and employment matters. Private technology companies around a series B or Series C may discover that relying on outside counsel for every legal question is no longer economical or sustainable., Cost, : With an increase in sales and product offerings, there is an increase in commercial agreements. In-house counsel can reduce spend on day-to-day agreements and free up resources and outside counsel to focus on more complex legal matters. Part-time models like those FLEX offers can be helpful for early-stage companies that want to benefit from the cost savings associated with bringing routine…, Product development, : In-house counsel in technology companies is often looked to for advice and counsel on product-related legal concerns. Companies benefit from an internal advisor who understands the nuances of the company’s products and operations to help ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations., Regulatory landscapes, : Early-stage companies operating in highly regulated spaces like financial services or healthcare benefit from dedicated in-house counsel to navigate changing regulations and avoid pitfalls that could derail product/services before they launch. Technology companies working to disrupt existing industries, like transportation or waste, for example, will likely also encounter complex and rapidly…
- This year, FLEX made contributions to the following organizations as part of our commitment to social responsibility: World Wildlife Fund : The WWF is an international non-governmental organization that works to preserve wilderness, reduce human impact on the environment, and protect species and their habitats. American Red Cross : The American Red Cross provides immediate assistance and long-…
- General Manager Linda Netsch has been at the head of FLEX since 2018. Previously, Linda worked extensively with Fenwick as a consultant and taught negotiations courses with FLEX Founder Ralph Pais. In her current capacity, Linda is responsible for managing strategy and operations for FLEX, and working with Fenwick attorneys and staff to ensure effective collaboration and support. As a past…, Q: Can you tell us more about your career prior to FLEX?, Prior to law school I was an active-duty Air Force officer working on intelligence communication systems in Europe for NATO allies. I then went to Harvard Law School on an Air Force scholarship. The most influential course I took was “Negotiation” taught by the authors of the book, Getting to Yes, . After taking the course, I was asked to help teach the material through the Harvard Negotiation Project, which became a big part of my career going forward. After graduating, I became a judge advocate doing a variety of legal work including criminal prosecution, employment law, labor arbitration, and advising on search and seizure. My last role was as an assistant professor at the US Air Force…, Q: In your experience, what are FLEX's greatest challenges?, A continuous challenge is having the right balance of high-quality attorneys and interesting opportunities for those attorneys. When the legal market is thriving, as it was right after the initial COVID shock, it was hard to get enough lawyers with the in-house tech company experience that FLEX clients seek. When the tech market tightened with layoffs and hiring freezes, more high-quality lawyers…, Q: In retrospect, what were some of FLEX's greatest achievements over the past five years?, As a service offering of Fenwick, a law firm, FLEX must clearly understand the difference between the type of work that requires the expertise and resources of outside counsel like Fenwick and the type of work that should be done by lawyers who are inside the business and manage different risk tolerances. Apparently, there was skepticism about whether FLEX could get that assessment right when the…, Q: How do you define success?, That’s a question that I always ask in negotiation courses, so I’ll give that answer first. Negotiation success is using effective communication to develop agreements to meet the interests of those involved – better than alternative choices – supported by relevant benchmarks and constructive relationships. Success for FLEX means providing high quality legal services to clients while providing…, Q: What can we expect from FLEX in 2025?, We draw our expectations from what Fenwick partners see and hear from their clients and from what the media predicts about the economy next year. Given predictions that more business-friendly regulatory practices will be coming, with more opportunities for M&A and IPO work in a strong economy, we expect practice areas for FLEX that have been somewhat depressed will pick up – specifically in-…
- , In-house Legal Practice Trends: A Comparison of 2023 and 2024, The chart above showcases a comparative analysis of FLEX’s key legal practice areas, focusing on the distribution of efforts across different categories between 2023 and 2024. Each bar indicates the percentage of legal work allocated to a particular area during these two years, revealing notable shifts in interim in-house legal needs among FLEX’s client base., Key Observations:, 1. Dominance of Tech Transactions, Tech transactions emerge as the most dominant category in both years, commanding over 50% of the workload. This reflects the importance of technology-driven deals among FLEX’s innovative client base. More consumer facing platform clients requested marketing and content support in 2024. Hardware requests also made up a greater percentage, including semiconductors, devices, smart vehicles, and…, 2. Product Counsel and Corporate Law, Product Counsel and Corporate legal services saw steady performance, with percentages relatively similar between 2023 and 2024. Their consistent demand suggests that companies continue to prioritize legal support for product compliance and corporate governance. While demand for generalist product counsel remained our single highest area of demand, there was an increase in requests for more…, 3. Privacy Trends, There was a slight uptick in privacy requests in 2024, underscoring the growing significance of data protection and regulatory compliance as global privacy laws become more stringent. Demand for general privacy advice and counsel was a driving factor for the increase in privacy request percentage. Privacy demand grew across industries, including healthtech, with HIPAA and data experience as focus…, 4. Decline in Employment and Life Sciences, Employment law and Life Sciences requests each made up a smaller percentage of overall demand this year., 5. Remaining Practice Areas, Intellectual property (IP), compliance, and litigation represent smaller percentages of total client requests. Compliance significantly grew year over year with an increase in ESG and policy demands but remains a small percentage of work. Stability in IP and litigation requests indicates continued reliance on these specialized practice areas, although with no significant surge in demand., Conclusion, This data provides valuable insights for companies to strategize what legal practice areas may require interim in-house legal support. With the clear prominence of tech transactions, growth in product counseling, and rising need for privacy and AI-related legal expertise, companies might consider reallocating resources and legal training to meet these growing demands, and proactively exploring…
- , "Working with FLEX allows me to tackle novel legal challenges alongside world-class in-house teams, developing highly specialized skills that would have been difficult to acquire elsewhere. The exposure to multiple legal departments has provided valuable insight into different corporate cultures, helping me evaluate the ideal environment for my next role.", Michael is a senior in-house attorney with proven success leading mission-critical initiatives at companies ranging from startups to Fortune 10 and 50 technology leaders. Through FLEX secondments, he has guided the development of transformative artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions, and advanced innovative products at global scale. His expertise spans complex product counseling,…