Crafty Counsel with Benjamin White - Episode 25

The Legal Genie Podcast

In Episode 25 of the Legal Genie podcast, your host, Lara Quie, is in conversation with Benjamin White. Ben spent six years as a corporate lawyer at Clifford Chance before moving in-house with the Global Fashion Group.

In 2017, he founded Crafty Counsel, a platform that allows legal counsel access to online learning and development via a series of videos recorded by specialists in the area. It is also a community of lawyers eager to socialize, network, mentor, and share experiences

In this episode, Ben discusses his slightly more unconventional career path and experiences living abroad as well as how Crafty Counsel came about.

Going against the grain, Ben decided to put his training offer with Clifford Chance on hold for a couple of years to pursue his interests, taking up a post-graduate course in Chinese history. He spent six months at Beijing University and returned to China sometime later as a Clifford Chance trainee.

When he returned to the law, he initially intended to go into litigation, but relealised that he would be a better fit for the corporate practice after starting his training there. He advises younger lawyers to keep an open mind and to try something to find out if they actually do enjoy it.

Later, he was given the chance to get seconded to a client, where he got a taste of being an in-house counsel. Finding the experience stimulating, and to delve more into his interests in the start-up and venture capital frontier, he took the chance to move on to the Global Fashion Group as in-house counsel. Ben commented that at that time, venture capital and start-up work was harder to come by at a large firm like Clifford Chance.

Ben goes on to discuss some of the key differences between his experience at a large law firm in contrast to his in-house, highlighting the sense of control that he gained after the move.

Ben was then at a crossroads between accepting positions at prominent VC funds as their first internal counsel or moving on to Crafty Counsel which he had been working on and mentions why he chose to move forward with Crafty Counsel.

Ben also highlights his experience as the inspiration for Crafty Counsel. In-house counsels usually face a more ambiguous environment with structures and environments varying significantly across companies as opposed to the private practice where career options are relatively more straightforward.

Finding this an underserved community, he decided to put his mind to it to create a community for support and the exchange of information, practices, and situations. The demand for more community-based events happened just as COVID hit, prompting a shift in focus from more technical topics to more practical matters.

Crafty Counsel has some events planned for the next few months and is looking forward to the possibility of in-person events, whilst at the same time maintaining digital meetups – which have successfully connected people from all over the world.

I hope that you enjoy the conversati

Lara Q Associates
A boutique business and executive coaching consultancy
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You can connect with Lara Quie:

· On LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/laraquie

· Website: https://www.laraqassociates.com

· Or Email at [e-mail]