I’m chatting with recent starter Richard Hann to find out about his specialisms, his approach to legal work and why he made the move to TLD.
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Q&A with Richard Hann
Richard, do you have any legal specialisms?
My career has centred around working in-house in the tech sector, so I have worked on a huge variety of matters. Within start-up and rapidly scaling businesses that are moving at lightning speed, you often don’t have the luxury of having large legal teams around with people that have individual areas of expertise. You must be prepared to roll your sleeves up and turn your hand to anything, whether that be commercial contracting (sales and procurement), privacy, compliance, ethics, litigation, real estate, employment, legal operations and more!
I have seen an awful lot of change within tech during my career, together with the regulation that routinely, but belatedly, tended to follow. Email was only just being rolled out when I first started working (fond memories of standing at the fax machine for what felt like hours!), internal mail envelopes were still a ‘thing’, and hardly anyone had a mobile phone — and those that did exist were brick-sized. I have worked on every conceivable sort of tech, and the issues, threats and opportunities that each of those have introduced to businesses — hardware, software, the internet, e-commerce, mobile, social media, the advent of SaaS, IaaS, PaaS, Cloud Computing, IoT, Cyber and now, AI. The terrific thing about technology is that it never stands still, and there is plenty of opportunity for continued development and learning that is driven by that innovation. The legal issues and advice that businesses have required constantly evolve often at a rapid-pace with very little, if no, warning — a great way to stay engaged and fresh.
The pace and scale of innovation means that you must be flexible, adaptable and open to change, be able to just get things done at speed whilst working under pressure to demanding deadlines on anything that comes your way. Maybe that is a ‘specialism’ in itself?
And can you tell me why you chose to join TLD?
Those of us that have worked in-house will recognise that the traditional resourcing model of adding full-time heads, and supplementing gaps with external law firms, is fast becoming outdated and is not scalable, especially with the proliferation of legal tech and AI. Hiring can be a seriously expensive exercise, especially when considering the ‘fully loaded’ cost of that hire to a business. Plus, the cost of making a rushed or bad hire can be even more so. Often this means that the legal experience you are looking for, and the budget you have available, are not aligned at all. Businesses require a legal professional with the experience and commercial acumen to be able to provide responsive, pragmatic, actionable advice in a fast-paced environment, and be able to deal with anything that comes their way. They don’t want someone that will only quote the law or escalate every single point for someone else to take a decision — there is just no time for that. Businesses that are scaling rapidly want someone that has seen it and done it and is able to quickly become fully embedded in their business to understand their own challenges and opportunities.
This is where TLD come in as they are a law firm like no other. TLD only provides experienced, seasoned, business-focused legal professionals, that can contribute to a business’s growth and success, but on a fractional basis without a full-time commitment or lengthy hiring process, and with little ramp up-time required.
It became clear to me during my conversations with TLD that what they provide, together with the opportunity to work alongside like-minded people, would be a good fit for me in this next stage of my career. I wanted to try something different, using my experience in a way that could help benefit a variety of businesses across different sectors. It was important to me to find the right work/life balance and spend my working time doing more of the things that I enjoy and excel at, which is to work on intellectually stimulating projects that can really help guide rapidly-scaling businesses to achieve their outcomes.
What work do you particularly enjoy?
Whilst a large part of any in-house role is to support what seems like a never-ending supply of work advising on Sales and Go-To-Market activities, especially within public companies during the gruelling ‘quarter-end’, I particularly enjoy work that is more strategic in nature.
The benefit of having worked in technology company environments is that they are very fast-moving. Speed of execution is a major competitive differentiator. This means I have become accustomed to change being the only constant and this has given me a mindset to always be on the lookout for ways in which a legal function can rethink and change how it operates within the business, to deliver real tangible value, to best use alternative resourcing and technology and, generally, just to do ‘more with less’. That could include rolling out training and self-serve initiatives, implementing new tech to help with contract lifecycle management, or outsourcing high-volume, low-value repetitive tasks — all in an effort to free up precious internal legal resource time to work on the important matters that deliver most value, whilst speeding up time to contract (and ultimately revenue generation) for the business.
I am also experienced in helping businesses with opening new entities and offices as they look to expand into new markets and have supported marketing and sponsorship activities that have involved pop stars! I find it most rewarding to be involved in a variety of projects where you can really see the tangible benefits of your hard work and effort.
What attributes do your clients value about you?
I like to think that above all else, I am pragmatic, calm, easy to get along with, honest and trusted to just get the job done. Being an in-house lawyer, especially when acting as a sole counsel, can be very challenging at times, and your role includes being the person in the room that can give advice and direction that people may not necessarily want to hear! I think the biggest compliment I have ever received was from a senior business leader who said to me “I forget that you are a lawyer, I just see you as a business person and a part of our team, who also just happens to be a lawyer”. Ultimately clients want to work with someone that gives them confidence they can achieve their objectives, whilst managing risk in a sensible and pragmatic way.
Is there any particular achievement in your career that you are most proud of?
I am not sure I have one single moment or achievement as such. For me, it’s not about completing this deal or that deal, even if it was complex and took many months (or years!). Yes, those were always important, and there have been plenty of them that have each been rewarding at the time, but what has been more satisfying to me is the number of lawyers that I have hired that I have been privileged to lead and be a part of their own development — to see them grow and develop into legal leaders in their own right. When I finally retire – not yet! – that’s what I will look back on with most satisfaction.
And finally, what do you when you’re not working?
Outside of work, I am a proud dad to two teenage boys, and husband to my wife Debbie. When the British weather permits (and even when it doesn’t) I am an enthusiast of all things related to outdoor cooking, especially if it gives me an excuse to buy the next must-have gadget. I am currently eating lots of pizza in an effort to perfect my dough stretching skills, which is much harder than it looks! I have played most sports at some time or another in my life, but have finally settled on golf which I played quite seriously when I was young. I once played – but lost – to a young lad that went on to become a winning Ryder Cup captain! I have also dabbled in property development over the years, and we are fortunate to own a holiday home down by the sea that we try to make as much use of as possible at weekends, to escape London and get some proper sea air.
If you would like to know more about Richard and find out how he can support your business, connect with him on LinkedIn and find out more about his experience and specialisms from his team profile.
