What happens when you swap billable hours for a movement? In this episode of But is it Legal?, Simon Marshall sits down with Ben White (Crafty Counsel) to learn how a small idea became the UK’s fastest growing in-house legal community, and where it’s heading next…🎙️

🔥 What's included:

• The story so far - Leaving Clifford Chance to founding Crafty Counsel, and the in-between.
• Events that work - “Stadium buzz, dinner party feel,” neuro-inclusive touches, and yes… the silent-disco headphones.
• Keynotes that hit - Post Office’s Lee Castleton, Zelda Perkins, Jordan Breslow and why ethics lands.
• Going continental - Crafty Fest Europe (Amsterdam, 2nd October) at the Heineken Experience + speakers from Unilever, Rio Tinto, Mastercard, Mollie and PopHouse to name a few.
• New-market playbook - Crafty Locals meetups and brand-building beyond the UK.
• Boutique x AI - Why focused firms that pair human judgment with AI could change the industry.
• What’s next - Crafty Week (FinTech Day, Disputes Day, Legal Tech Buyers Club) and early US moves…. watch this space.

🎧 Why you should listen: If you want the inside track on where the in-house community, legal events, and AI-shaped service models are headed, and how to build legal networks that actually move your career forward - this episode is for you.

👉 Subscribe now and be part of the conversation that’s changing up the UK legal sector!

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👉 Follow Ben White Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-white-33b79032/ Crafty Counsel: www.craftycounsel.co.uk

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👉 Follow Simon Marshall Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/simonpaulmarshall/ Website: www.tbdmarketing.co.uk

Building a Generation of Financially Savvy Lawyers | Ep 32 Carla Hoppe 🎙️

Lawyers can recite law in their sleep, yet many admit they’ve never learned the basics of financial management. In this episode of But is it Legal?, host Simon Marshall welcomes Carla Hoppe, the founder of Wealthbrite, for a straight-talk conversation on money mis-education in the UK. Carla reveals how Wealthbrite equips lawyers, from trainees to partners, with the practical tools to save, invest, and build real wealth.🎙️

🔥 What's included:

• Money & mental health - “Money is still the number one cause of stress and anxiety in working adults in the UK,” yet the profession “still doesn’t talk about it enough.”
• Why lawyers stay silent - Fear of judgment, salary secrecy, and keeping personal finances off-limits at work.
• When private pressure turns into firm-level risk - Falsified expenses, padded timesheets, and chasing bonuses.
• The u-curve of financial stress - Survey data shows that peak stress is felt at the start of people’s careers, eases, then climbs again at 10 years plus PQE.
• Misinformation minefield - Viral social media videos which provide advice that can lead to fraud without a single disclaimer.
• Next-gen fixes - A new “Keep the Change” community where partners, senior associates and juniors answer questions anonymously, and why 15-year-olds talk about it more openly… they don’t have any shame.

🎧 Why you should listen: If you want to see how money stress is quietly reshaping the UK legal profession, and how to protect yourself and your firm, this episode is a must. Carla offers clear, practical insight on what needs to change, financial risks, and building a safer, smarter money culture through her Wealthbrite community.

👉 Subscribe now and be part of the conversation that’s changing up the UK legal sector!

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👉 Follow Carla Hoppe

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlahoppe/ Wealthbrite: https://www.wealthbrite.co.uk/

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👉 Follow Simon Marshall

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonpaulmarshall/ Website: www.tbdmarketing.co.uk

Re-wiring the Legal Career Playbook | Ep31 Alana Tart 🎙️

Feeling boxed in by the “one-track” legal career? In this episode of But is it Legal?, host Simon Marshall chats with Alana Tart, General Counsel, Executive Coach, Mindfulness Teacher and co-founder of The Mentor Well, a youth-mentoring start-up that helps young individuals to navigate their futures confidently.🎙️

🔥 What's included:

• Fractional GC decoded: Why scaling tech companies hire Alana, how she still sits at the board table, and the two myths that stop senior lawyers from making the leap.
• Designing bountiful weeks, not 14-hour days: The practical routine that lets her switch from strategy calls to school drop-offs without missing a beat.
• Coach vs. Counsel: How mindfulness and emotional-intelligence coaching turbo-charge her contract negotiations (and why “weaponised wellbeing” is a real risk).
• Mentor Well: The start-up pairing teens with well-informed mentors: safeguarding rules, data-privacy headaches, and the game-changing impact on Gen Z resilience.
• Red-flag culture: Narcissism, gas-lighting & “neck-up” thinking in law firms: what it looks like, why it festers, and the self-awareness fix HR policies can’t deliver.
• Rapid-fire truths: The stress habit she’s still kicking, the phrase she’d ban from every lawyer’s vocabulary, and who shouldn’t choose the fractional path.

🎧 Why you should listen: If you want to steal a blueprint for building a multi-strand legal career, discover why emotional intelligence, not just technical skills, will future-proof you in an AI-driven world, learn how an innovative mentoring model can safeguard youngsters mental health, and finally ditch the habit of brushing off “soft skills” as mere “pragmatism.”

👉 Subscribe now and be part of the conversation that’s changing up the UK legal sector!

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👉 Follow Alana Tart

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alana-tart-771a30/ Profile: https://www.thelegaldirector.co.uk/team/alana-tart/ Mentor Well: https://www.thementorwell.com/

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👉 Follow Simon Marshall

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonpaulmarshall/ Website: www.tbdmarketing.co.uk