Co-founder and director, Oxford
Natalie Murray‘s legal career began with work experience at a family-run firm: ‘My role was to help where help was needed.’ She would open the post and get stationery for partners and even help cook breakfast for client meetings. ‘The senior partner’s wife came in to do this, and I used to make food with her.’ Clients would tuck into kedgeree while receiving a legal update. ‘It was the first time I’d had kedgeree. [The senior partner’s wife] taught me how to cook it.’
Natalie describes the firm as an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ kind of practice. Partners would introduce her to clients during meetings. ‘You didn’t feel like a dogsbody. You’re there to help build relationships.’
Natalie was asked to stay on as a junior. ‘I explained that I wanted to go off to university and get a degree.’ The firm supported her through a part-time law degree while she worked. She spent four days in the office and one day at university. ‘In those days, the apprenticeship model was there.’
After finishing her law degree, she completed the LPC and then successfully applied for a training contract. ‘I had to apply as if I was an outsider.’ Having spent a lot of time with the litigation team as a paralegal, Natalie had gained extensive experience and wanted to become a litigator. She became dual-qualified so she could go to court.
One of her seats took her to London, where she did banking and finance work. Her secondment at a ‘challenger’ bank was a great experience. ‘It’s very different from a law firm. You’re with the client in the client’s business. It was a baptism of fire. You don’t have partners behind you. It’s on you.’
She adds: ‘No one wants to talk to a lawyer. They think you are blocking things. I learnt how to make friends with the other teams.’ Natalie encouraged them to ask questions, no matter how silly it might seem, and understand how things work. ‘The more you do that, the better the advice you can give as a lawyer. Before you know it, you’re working with the team, not against the team. People start to come to you with questions before there is a problem.’
The secondment changed Natalie’s approach to work when she returned to the firm. ‘I asked more questions. I asked why we were doing things in certain ways, how accessible as lawyers we were. Are we talking in lawspeak? It was a pivotal point in my journey.’
When Natalie became a mother, she began questioning her working environment. ‘I was leaving my private life at home, coming into the office and I was “Natalie the lawyer”. I did not think the two would mix properly.’ She quit and became a consultant.
On founding Lawbox, Natalie says she wanted to set up a legal offering that was accessible and human. She wanted lawyers to feel like an extension of the client’s team ‘and make the client feel relaxed when they phone us’. She also aspired to make Lawbox a place where lawyers would love to be, where they would enjoy a healthy work-life balance and ‘feel they could be the best version of themselves’.
Natalie created the business with her husband, Jamie Murray, who was a project manager in the construction industry. ‘He realised we had a business. He has bought legal services and could not understand why lawyers were the way they were. They talked in technical language, they didn’t break down stuff for clients, they weren’t approachable.’
What is it like working with her spouse? ‘When you’re close with someone, you can really be yourself. What’s nice is that there are no pretences. When you’re thinking something, you can just say it. We’re on the same page on some things, which helps.’ Lawbox began 10 years ago with ‘just us two at the start’. The firm now comprises a team of eight.
On calling the firm ‘Lawbox’, Natalie adds: ‘We wanted to create something for everyone. It was not going to be a personal name to me and Jamie. We wanted a name nice enough that people would like the brand name, but it was for them as well as us.’
And does she still make kedgeree? ‘The kids don’t like it very much!’, she replies.
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