Leadership and Law with a Roar // Vanessa Challess - Founder & Principal of Tiger Law

Join me in this conversation with Vanessa Challess; Founder, Principal and the force behind of Tiger Law and its sister businesses Tiger Bytes and Tiger HR - force being the operative word here as Vanessa has such passionate and motivating energy!

Vanessa is not afraid to speak what is on her heart and mind which makes for a very real and open conversation. We dive into a number of topics such a female inequality in law, integrity as a lawyer and what it means to be a real leader.  You will hear about Vanessa's journey to becoming a lawyer which, after quitting school at 15, wasn't a conventional path (which sums up Vanessa's uniquely inspiring ways), her experiences in private practice (including inequalities faced as a woman in law, amongst other things) which very much fuelled Vanessa's desire to create her own business and do law on her own terms.

Vanessa's leadership style, which we dive into and unpack, is aptly captured by the  name 'Tiger Law'. What really stood out to me is how passionately protective and caring Vanessa is over her staff; nurturing their talents, encouraging them to be themselves and having their backs was something that came through to me strongly. 
 

In this episode we dive into:-

Background and  journey into law 

• Leaving school at 15;
• ‘Real’ realisations about what Vanessa wanted for her life;
• Back to education - humanities based A-levels and why Vanessa thinks these are valuable;
• Philosophy degree – the lure of academia; and
• CPE conversion & LPC vs benefits practical learning avenues.

Early Professional years

• Private practice – ‘looked like misery’
• Facing inequalities for being female and different in her style
• Pheonix out of the flames moment: sole bread winner, pregnant and sacked – set out in legal consultancy followed by creating her own law firm.

Tiger Law

• Starting Tiger Law – what fuelled it and the process of a starting a law firm;
• What is behind the name;
• Supporting staff to be human and nurture their individuality
• Leadership in law and how Vanessa is doing it differently;
• Social media and personal brands – how to use it wisely- freedom of expression vs professional;
• Integrity and resilience in the legal professional and what it is to be a service provider;
• Using technology in law to help lawyers and clients; and
• How ‘Tigerizing’ things helps to filter out the client they don’t want to work with.

Finishing up 

• Why Vanessa is Legally Different; and
• What advice Vanessa would give her younger self

HELPFUL LINKS + CONTACTS

Contact information for Vanessa and Tiger Law:-

• Tiger Law's website
• Vanessa's LinkedIn
• Tiger Law's Instagram
• Tiger Law's Twitter

Legally Different’s contact information:-

• Legally Different's email: [email protected]
• Legally Different on Instagram
• Interested in Human Design? Want to find out how you're uniquely design to work, interact with others, make decisions and get clarity on your purpose, gifts and strengths?  Book your Human Design session with Lauren here.

Thank you sooooo much for tuning in.

Lauren