AG Integrate Manager, Florence Van Schependom-Brown, interviews Andy Curtis. Andy is a familiar face around AG and had previously worked at the Firm for more than 9 years. He has since then gained substantial in-house experience as a Legal Director / Legal Counsel across various industries. Andy describes what attracted him to AG Integrate and a career in legal freelancing. Read on to discover more about his journey and why his current assignment, along with being an AG Integrate consultant, is the perfect fit for him!
AG Integrate Blog Series - Andy Curtis
Welcome to the next instalment of our blog series where we explain why AG Integrate is the perfect match for our consultant, Andy Curtis.
We’ve been placing hundreds of interim lawyers, legal ops, compliance, risk, governance, company secretarial and other specialists into in-house roles at the world’s best brands since 2015.
But there's a difference when working with AG Integrate, because where your next interim legal consultant or legal role is concerned, for us getting it almost right is 100% wrong.
Who is the star of this Blog Series?
In this series, we interviewed Andy Curtis, an experienced senior lawyer who is providing invaluable support to our long-standing client in the transport sector.
What motivated you to pursue a career in legal freelancing?
Having been made redundant from my previous Head of Legal job, I considered all the opportunities open to me, both permanent and temporary. My personal circumstances played a major part in this. I’m totally blind and, therefore, I’m not able to easily relocate from Yorkshire, which seriously limits the number of suitable opportunities open to me.
I could see that freelancing would enable me predominantly to work remotely, thereby solving one of my big problems, but I was concerned that whilst the potential feast or famine nature might work for me, it might not work for the support worker without whom I cannot do my job - we come as a team.
However, the market conditions and the very few potential jobs meant that I had to put such thoughts to the back of my mind and take the plunge and see if consulting had legs for me, and so far, despite my initial reticence, it’s working really well.
What led you to decide to join AG Integrate?
I worked at AG for 9 years as part of the commercial, competition, and litigation teams, having trained and qualified at the AG Leeds office. Having kept in touch with former colleagues and with the Firm itself through its alumni program, it seemed like the natural step to see if we could rekindle the flame.
This is your first engagement with AG Integrate, how would you describe your overall onboarding experience, from the first point of contact to beginning your assignment with the client?
Being welcomed into the AG Integrate fold was painless. An initial call, followed by a glowing reference from one of the litigation partners with whom I had previously worked, and I was in. After that, the process of being informed of potential assignments and the interview process for each one was very smooth, if not always successful.
However, once I’d secured an assignment, things started to get a little more complex, due entirely to my situation. As a blind solicitor, I need specialist software and the assistance of a support worker, all of which is provided at no cost to anyone other than the taxpayer, through Access To Work (ATW), part of the Department of Work and Pensions. While ATW was a lot quicker than I feared it would be in approving the support package to which I would have access, it did take a while longer to work through the complexities of which of the entities involved in this arrangement would employ my support worker. In the end, the recruitment agency through which my support worker was found agreed to undertake the role, thereby providing a simple ‘plug in and play’ solution for future assignments.
I have found through my life since losing my sight aged 21 that there isn’t much that I cannot do if given the chance, but inevitably this is dependent upon numerous other parties as well – for instance, the arduous task of helping me position my face in a circle on the screen of my iPhone to prove I’m a ‘real person’ as part of the ID checks, a test which I eventually passed! Whilst the above process was undoubtedly very stressful at times, the result is worth it. I’ve found a variety of people who have opened their minds and worked with me to find creative solutions to enable me to do what I’m very good at and prove that this model can work for me.
I have to say that throughout this process, the AG Integrate team provided constant and timely support.
Tell us more about your current assignment and why is it a good match for you?
I’m supporting the Wales & Western legal team for one of AG's transport clients, operating in a hybrid manner, working remotely with periodic visits to the client's offices. The work is very wide ranging. The large number of different departments and their roles are (I am reliably informed) only penetrable with multiple years of service; and, as you can imagine, some of the place names are very difficult to spell! It’s my first role within both the rail sector and a public body. As such, I’m learning every day.
AG's client was looking for a generalist lawyer, who was able to fit in with this model. I guess that my experience means I’m a good fit. Since moving in-house 10 years ago, I’ve worked predominantly as a sole counsel, being at the heart of everything and having to be able to deal with anything that is thrown at me, both metaphorically and literally. Building on my wider-than-usual private practice base experience, I have become comfortable in dealing with most areas of law that one might come across in-house and getting up to speed quickly. I’ve also learned to trust my judgement. So far, I’d like to think that this has helped me to hit the brief.
And for me; well, I get to undertake interesting work for a great client and develop my knowledge and experience in lots of new areas of law, all of which will hopefully benefit my ability to undertake future roles.
How do you envision your career progressing within the framework of legal freelancing, and how does AG Integrate potentially fit into your future plans?
I remain open to all options with my future career, but I now know that freelancing can work for me, and that’s a great feeling and also a massive relief.
We'd love for you to tell us more about you. Could you share with us your hobbies and interests outside of your professional life?
Family and sport keep me busy outside of work. I have three grown-up children (to the extent that kids are ever ‘grown-up’!), and two very much not-grown-up grandchildren; my partner has three teenage kids, and between us we are responsible for the welfare of three horses, three dogs, three cats and six chickens (at the last count), some of which have occasionally managed to appear in the background of Teams calls!
As a former Paralympic athlete, I do like to try and stay as fit as my broken body will allow. It would appear that competing as a blind 100m, 200m and 400m sprinter for 13 years and winning 24 international medals (including four Paralympic medals) leaves its mark, but I do spend a lot of time on my exercise bike, hiding away from kids and animals and listening to sport.
Living in the Yorkshire Dales means that my partner drags me (often begrudgingly) on walks, and I get my own back by dragging her along to Leeds united football matches, where we have season tickets.
Next steps
At AG Integrate, we are here to create opportunities for excellent lawyers and provide our esteemed Clients with effective support and creative solutions. If you are a Client looking for interim support or you are a lawyer who would like to know more around our interim opportunities, please don't hesitate to reach out.
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