Roxy Hart

She has taken an interesting journey to reach her current position though. Roxy had always known that she wanted to work as a lawyer and studied law at university. Following her studies, she gained experience at a mid-tier Queensland firm for a number of years before deciding to travel the world across 6 continents. It was during her travels round the globe Roxy starting contracting remotely, she recalls, “I went backpacking for a year and when I left the firm I was working at (in Queensland), they asked if they could send me their overflow work and I would work as a contractor during that year. I vividly recall drafting a contract as I was floating down the Nile on a felucca. When I returned to Australia I decided to move to Melbourne and reached out to some other firms who then started to send me work as well.”

This flexibility in work Roxy enjoyed on her voyage would be something that would become a more permanent fixture in her life; after setting up her legal business, Roxy committed to working on a more flexible basis rather than returning to a full time employeed position. It was while speaking at an event in Melbourne, she met Paul Garth from the Vario Flexible Services team and was persuaded to apply to Vario and join the flexible legal consultant hub.

Working through Vario Flexible Services, Roxy was able to access high quality, challenging legal work with some top clients, “It has been great working with as a Vario with the Pinsent Masons commercial and employment teams. The quality of clients and work is great” she remarks.

In early 2020 when the global Covid pandemic enraptured the world, Australia went into a series of lockdowns enforcing most people to work remotely. Working through Vario meant that Roxy was best prepared for this new way of working; “Being able to work from anywhere has been great. During last year’s lockdown my partner and I were able to temporarily move to Tasmania for 4 months and work from there, which was such a unique experience” she notes.

As parting advice for other legal practitioners considering moving into more flexible working, Roxy says “If you’d like a more flexible role rather than the traditional 8-5 then I’d highly recommend working with Vario. The team are really easy to work with.”