Rob Phillips has over twenty years of legal experience, spanning Big Law, in-house, and strategic consultancy. He began his career in litigation and has spent two decades building a formidable and broad transactional skill set. Rob provides services to multiple Lawtrades clients and offers fractional GC services through his own consultancy.
Tell us a bit about your professional background.
My focus is corporate healthcare, technology and regulatory law. My first general counsel told me my responsibilities would be a mile-wide and an inch deep; hopefully at this stage they are a little deeper. I am very thankful for that as I have since enjoyed very diverse opportunities over the last 20+ years. I have worked for emerging growth companies and venerable companies; in big tech and hospital systems. I have also been fortunate to work for several global organizations. That has opened my professional life to so many diverse people, cultures and working environments; I have worked closely with people from Europe to the Asia-Pacific region (“APAC”). Working with such great people and understanding cultural variances has been a great skill set to develop when your stage is the globe. I have certainly had days when I started very early with European teammates and that night after dinner re-engaged with colleagues in APAC. I believe my diverse background is a bit of a unique path for an attorney, but one I have very much enjoyed.
What encouraged you to start your own solo practice?
I am at a point where I need to figure out what I want to do when I grow up. After a decade living of in the DC area, I currently live in my hometown, a smaller town in Northern Colorado and am very thankful for the remote work opportunities. Undertaking contracting projects keep me engaged while I figure out what I want to do for the next 20 years and where and how I want to live while accomplishing that.
When did you first learn about Lawtrades and what prompted you to join the platform?
Ashish Walia, the Co-founder & COO of Lawtrades reached out via LinkedIn. I like the idea of applying for the opportunities that intrigue me, as well as the simplified application process and frankly; the pay rate is better than most, if not all, other contracting organizations.
What's your favorite aspect of Lawtrades?
I sincerely enjoy working with everyone at Lawtrades and the clients I have engaged with have been really wonderful people I have truly enjoyed working with. The higher pay rate also ranks right up there!
What advice would you have for others that are looking to utilize Lawtrades successfully?
Be very flexible, adaptable and patient. I have found that contract legal work is very interesting and fun; but does come with challenges. Each organization has its own structure and thought process. I have worked with great freedom to do what I do while working on a quite wide variety of agreements and projects; and have also encountered more rigid environments where the processes are more tightly controlled. Flexibility comes in quite handy as I have had engagements which wanted to start in under 48 hours and some take a couple weeks to commence. Some clients will involve you in the peripheral discussions and decision making and some keep you a bit more in a silo focused on one thing.
How do you establish strong, long-term relationships with clients?
Play nice. I really approach the projects with the mentality that whoever has retained me did so because they have a specific need and I am there to resolve it; and it may, or may not, be what was expected at the onset. I am there to help; and while I think that is accurate for any position I feel there is a different vibe in contracting. Their workforce has a gap in some fashion and I am there to plug it. I had a mentor once tell me to always remember: “Legal is a Cost Factor - bring value to the table every single day”. I consider that to be very sage advice when engaging with Lawtrades clients.
