Obelisk Legal Support Solutions, usually known as ''Obelisk Support'', is an alternative legal service provider of more than 1300 lawyers in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Obelisk Support uses a flexible 'outsourcing' working model where

lawyers A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicitor ...

work remotely for the client, either on stand-by or as supporting legal advisers. Lawyers are placed with

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...

law firms or in-house on an interim basis, and work as an extension within a business. Obelisk Support uses former city solicitors, many of them women who may enjoy a more flexible schedule (e.g. to raise a family). Obelisk Support also provides a language facility which uses qualified lawyers to translate legal documents into 27 world languages.

History and development

Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, (former

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

The Law Society The Law Society of England and Wales (officially The Law Society) is the professional association that represents solicitors for the jurisdiction of England and Wales. It provides services and support to practising and training solicitors, a ...

and the current

House of Lords Commissioner for Standards There are currently two House of Lords Commissioners for Standards, officers of the United Kingdom House of Lords. When the post was created in 2010 there was a single commissioner who was "responsible for the independent and impartial investigat ...

), noted the exodus of

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

solicitors A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

leaving the profession to have children and argued that the situation will only change if the legal sector invests in targeted career development support for women. Obelisk Support was founded by Dana Denis-Smith in 2010 to aid both women and men, who take time out of law to have a family. The company was founded on the idea of flexible work in law. The name of the company was inspired by

Cleopatra's Needle Cleopatra's Needles are a separated pair of ancient Egyptian obelisks now in London and New York City. The obelisks were originally made in Heliopolis (modern Cairo) during the New Kingdom period, inscribed by the 18th dynasty pharaoh Thutmose I ...

in London. Paul Owers, a partner at private-equity firm Actis and an Obelisk client, documents Obelisk Support’s ethical mission of providing flexible working solutions to professional women and men who take time off work for personal and family reasons. He notes, however, that there is a challenge in promoting the model from a business perspective, given the legal sector’s traditionally conservative approach to innovation in the market. In 2014, Obelisk Support recorded a revenue growth of 400%. In March 2017, Obelisk Support signed a deal with

Linklaters Linklaters LLP is a multinational law firm, headquartered in London, England. Founded in 1838, it is a member of the " Magic Circle" of elite London-headquartered law firms. It currently employs over 5,000 lawyers across 31 offices in 21 coun ...

to use its pool of flexible lawyers to provide an additional staffing resource. Obelisk Support provides legal support to 35

FTSE 100 The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest market ...

companies, including

Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

, BT,

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

, Goldman Sachs,

ING Ing, ING or ing may refer to: Art and media * '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film * i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group * The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes'' * "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 199 ...

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the devel ...

and

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

Awards

* In 2019, Obelisk Support's founder Dana Denis-Smith was recognized for Outstanding Achievements in Legal Services by the Legal500. Obelisk Support was shortlisted at The Lawyer Awards in the Excellence in Diversity & Inclusion category. * In 2018, Obelisk Support's founder Dana Denis-Smith was voted LexisNexis Legal Personality of the Year 2018. Obelisk Support was named as one of Europe’s fastest growing companies by the Financial Times and was listed in the FT1000 list of Europe’s fastest-growing companies as well as Inc.com's Inc. 5000 List of Fastest-Growing European Private Companies in 2018. * In 2017, Obelisk Support's founder Dana Denis-Smith won the WEConnect International Best Mentor and Role Model Award. * In 2016, Obelisk Support won

Legal Week ''Legal Week'' was a weekly British magazine for business lawyers, launched in 1999 by Mark Wyatt and Mary Heaney. History It was acquired by Incisive Media ''Incisive Media'' is a B2B information and events business. It is based in London, Uni ...

's Innovation Awards Marketing Innovation for its projec
The Attic
* In 2015, ''Obelisk'' was chosen by

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

' as one of the top 50 employers for women. Denis-Smith also won LegalWeek’s Outstanding Legal Innovator. * In 2014, Obelisk Support won the Best Strategic Leadership Award at the MPF Awards 2014. It was also a finalist (for the second year) for Best Emerging Firm. * In 2014, the firm was named runner up to Unilever for "''Most Agile Organisation''" at the Opportunity Now Awards. * Obelisk Support was one of three firms to be rated as a stand out in the Legal Pioneers category at the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards 2013. * In 2012, Denis-Smith was a finalist for "''Legal Innovator of the Year''" in the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards. * Denis-Smith was named as one of UK Management Today’s 35 inspirational Women in Business under age 35 in 2010.

Recognition

In 2018, Dana Denis-Smith spoke on the 100 years of the women's suffrage at Hay Festival and was instrumental in erecting the first statue of a woman, Millicent Fawcett, on Parliament Square. She was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Law by the University of Worcester for Obelisk Support's ground-breaking work on alternative models of working for women and for her inspirational commitment to championing women in the legal profession through the First 100 Year’s project. In 2017, Obelisk Support was the only legal business selected to join

London Mayor The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current m ...

Sadiq Khan Sadiq Aman Khan (; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting from 2005 until 2016. A member of the Labour Party, Khan is on the party's soft ...

’s two-day trade mission to France. On 10 June 2017, Denis-Smith delivered a TEDx talk on the topic of ''How to be remembered'' at TEDx Royal Turnbridge Wells. In 2016, Obelisk Support was invited to join Mayor Khan to visit North America and European capitals to emphasise that London was open for business and to showcase some of the fast-growing companies that are part of his International Business Programme.

First 100 Years Project

The

First 100 Years First 100 Years is a campaign owned and managed by Spark21, a charity registered in England & Wales, set up to celebrate the centenary of women being able to join the legal profession in the UK and Ireland as a result of Parliament passing the Sex ...

project was an initiative launched in 2014 by Obelisk Support in partnership with

and the

Bar Council {{see also, Bar association A bar council ( ga, Comhairle an Bharra) or bar association, in a common law jurisdiction with a legal profession split between solicitors and barristers or advocates, is a professional body that regulates the profess ...

to capture and celebrate the journey of women in the legal profession over the past 100 years. The project runs for five years and culminates in 2019 to mark the 100th anniversary since the introduction of the

Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It became law when it received Royal Assent on 23 December 1919.''Oliver & Boyd's new Edinburgh almanac and national repository for the year 1921''. p. 213 ...

. In the year 2015, the project was launched at the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Obelisk Legal SupportFirst 100 Years
Law firms based in London 2010 establishments in England