The O shaped lawyer

Over the last six months, a group of lawyers from Eversheds Sutherland and Network Rail have been taking part in a pilot as part of the O Shaped Lawyer movement. The O Shaped Lawyer movement was founded in 2019 by a group of general counsel with a collective purpose “to make the legal profession better for everyone involved.” They have adopted the mantra of ‘people first; then lawyers’ and their research has identified the key attributes that GCs feel are needed to strengthen the relationship between law firm and client, which go beyond pure technical knowledge.

The Eversheds Sutherland/Network Rail pilot has been facilitated by David Saunders, Head of Client Development at Konexo. It is one of a number of pilots taking place, which see law firms and in-house teams exploring the O Shaped attributes in a safe environment and identifying new ways of working more effectively together.

“We are delighted that Eversheds Sutherland has been one of the pioneers in embracing the O Shaped Lawyer pilots. The experience has highlighted the benefits that can be achieved for the law firm, the in-house team and the end customer when a group of progressive individuals come together as a team to regularly and openly discuss how to create value for the business. Many thanks to David for expertly facilitating the group through their O Shaped journey.” - Dan Kayne, General Counsel Regions at Network Rail, Founder of the O Shaped Lawyer movement.