Traditionally, people viewed the lawyering profession as nothing more than just a set of services offered in exchange for a fee. But one thing has not changed, lawyers have always viewed themselves as the trusted, skilled advisors who advocate for their clients. There have been many shifts in the business of law over the years, but no revolution to disrupt the space. For over 200 years, law firms have not evolved despite the industry changing. This is where Mezzle Law enters the space.
Featured in this months’ Cover Story of The Enterprise World’s issue of The Most Innovative Law Firms To Watch, is Mezzle Law, a firm dedicated to bringing forth the Law 3.0 model and changing the way that lawyers provide their services and the way that clients receive them for the greater good.
The Firm-
Mezzle Law is a legal consultancy which is seeking to disrupt the provision of legal services and the way that lawyers conduct their business. Providing a platform through which lawyers can join and continue to service their clients, without having to worry about the endless non-billable hours taken up by admin and running a business solo. Mezzle Law allows lawyers to join a global brand, have the support that they need to provide the highest level of service efficiently and effectively to their clients, while having the freedom to enjoy life and be their own boss. That’s the Mezzle Law Lifestyle.
Cutting Through the Complexities-
When the firm started their practice, and the new model of providing legal services, one of the challenges was scaling too quickly.
“Even before Mezzle Law hit the market, there was a growing demand for our business model in the legal market”.
Since “going live” the firm has been unmandated with requests to join the team and have found it hard to keep up with the demand. The lawyers Mezzle Law has onboard are all legal experts in their field. Senior lawyers with years of experience. This knowledge and skillset, coupled with the fact that Mezzle Law has found a way to make them happy, means that clients are also receiving better services, which makes clients more happy and happier clients also means a continuously growing client base.
The success of Mezzle Law’s services has reached a point where they are expanding into other jurisdictions even quicker than what they had planned to, because lawyers and clients in those jurisdictions are demanding that Mezzle does.
“Luckily our business model is such that it can be expanded easily, and something Mezzle Law accounted for before establishing”.
When founding the firm, and launching the different kind of services that Mezzle Law provides, the founders always knew there would be a high demand and that Mezzle Law would hit the ground running, they just didn’t realise by how much. But it’s a nice challenge to have, and one which the team openly embraces.
The Growth Quotient-
Mezzle Law is different to the normal and traditional law firms currently in the market. The whole concept behind the model is that they are a remote based fee share model, whereby the benefit is seen by both the lawyers and the clients alike.
“We have heavily invested in our back-office systems, so each lawyer benefits from the best IT infrastructure and admin support so they can literally function from anywhere in the world”.
Lawyers are used to being confined to offices and working standard long hours to get the job done, whereas with Mezzle, lawyers can work anywhere and anytime they choose to and most importantly they can dictate their working day/life. The idea about being totally flexible and remote is why Mezzle Law is different, but also the very fact that the lawyers keep the lion’s share of the income is a massive differentiator in the current legal market.
“Happy lawyers also mean better work and happier clients. Happy lawyers and happy clients mean everyone benefits from Mezzle’s success”.
The Services-
All of the lawyers associated with Mezzle Law are senior lawyers and experts in their field. This means that if a client is looking for a general legal counsel (whether corporate-commercial or dispute based) or for a legal expert for something specific, they need not look any further. Mezzle Law has everything that they need. The lawyer a client engages with from the beginning of a matter, is also the lawyer they work with throughout, which means a better service, provided by a senior lawyer throughout the entire process.
“At Mezzle, clients have direct access to senior lawyers, who they can develop a relationship with, and who are the best at what they do, and can provide them with the best in what they need”.
The firm has legal experts who specialise in real-estate, hotel related matters, IP, film/media, healthcare, estate planning/wills, company incorporations, CSP services, corporate structuring, regulated set-ups, cryptocurrencies, funds, foundations, banking, insurance matters, onshore disputes (with the local courts), arbitration, logistics, shipping, aviation and more.
The Road Ahead-
Mezzle Law is growing from strength to strength, and are continuing to actively recruit good quality lawyers across the UK and UAE (for now, but there also plans for expansion). With the more lawyers that join the firm, the wider the firm’s service offering becomes and with the model they have created and the infrastructure the team intends to give their lawyers, the demand keeps increasing. The ultimate plan is to continue this growth in both the UK and UAE, and further afield also.
The fee share or consultancy model is one which will dominate the legal market in the future and Mezzle has been created at just the right time to be pioneers of this.
“We believe the future for Mezzle is bright and one which shall see our base not only grow in the UK and UAE, but also in other jurisdictions”.
The team is already in talks to open offices in 2 other locations in the next 12 months, which will be a massive achievement for the firm. Challenging and changing the traditional approach to the legal sector is what is key here and Mezzle are at the forefront of making this happen.
Henzie Healley- Leading the Way-
MD
“To create something unique, different and revolutionary is what a leader should aim to strive for”.
Henzie started her own legal consultancy in 2019 which she merged with Mezzle in 2021. She is an expert in corporate-commercial law and is Managing Director of Mezzle Middle East.
In her glorious career as a lawyer she has-
Drafted and negotiated a 3 year contract valued at USD 8 million with one of the world’s most and most prestigious oilfield companies.
Assisted over 100+ start-ups set-up and establish themselves in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Worked with various governmental organisations to support with ongoing virtual in-house legal matters, and assisted them with setting up a team within Mezzle, so that they have the support of the best-of-the-best with any legal requirement that their organisation may need.
Worked with various regulators all over the world to create legislation for evolving legal environments and to create these for new service offerings entering the market.
Assisted various crypto and blockchain related projects, having been featured in a documentary on the topic and continuing to advise clients on these accordingly.
Spoken at various events, including the Female Founders Initiative (about being a women in business), and continues to work with various female founders and business groups to impart knowledge and help others shares in her success.
Named as one of the Top 10 Business Leaders to Follow in 2021 and received this title twice on two separate occasions for 2022.
Featured in various magazine articles and received an award of honour from the Women’s Empowerment Investment Forum, set to receive another award (the Lex Falcon Award) at the end of March 2022.
Mezzle won Best Corporate & Commercial Law Firm 2022 during the 2022 Global Excellence Awards, was named one of the 5 Best Law Firms of 2022 and has now had the honour of being named one of the Innovative Law Firms to Watch in 2022 by The Enterprise World.
What Makes the Mezzle Team Unique?
“We support our legal experts by providing them with access to unique and revolutionary technology which helps them streamline non-billable work and free up their time, either for more billable work, or to simply enjoy the finer things that life has to offer (without compromising on their income)”.
The firm equips lawyers with the tools that they need to be more efficient and be their own boss, while still having the support of other lawyers and an international firm (and with that comes a full team of support to cover and still provide large law firm related functions). The Mezzle team is unique because they are all revolutionaries looking for a change.
Tired of the traditional way of working, Mezzle lawyers refuse to accept the fact that this is the way that working in law has to be. They are not afraid to go after what they know they can achieve, and realise that law is an application of knowledge, which is transferred with a person and does not remain in a firm/company when they leave.
They have realised that clients create loyalty to persons and not companies, and that if they provide good legal services in a responsive and time efficient manner, they have already made it in this industry and can enjoy the work while still being free, but that being a part of team is always better than being alone, and that by joining Mezzle, there is so much more that they can achieve.
Henzie’s Advice to the Budding Entrepreneurs-
“First and foremost, if you are a lawyer, join Mezzle and experience the joy. If you are an entrepreneur in any other industry, contact Mezzle to ensure you are properly supported from a legal point of view and have a strong legal partner backing you. It takes a lot more time, money and effort to fix a legal mess than to have done it properly from the start. Once you are ready, go for it and have fun! Enjoy the journey. Its hard work, but its worth it.
Its important to remember, you will regret the things you didn’t do, more than the things you did do… and one day there will not be any more time left to do the things that you have always wanted to do. There will always be another job, another thing you are waiting for to make you happy, another excuse you can use… do it now. Even if you fail, you can say you tried and gave it your all, and wont be left wondering, “what if”, which is one of the worst feelings of all”.
