Cathy Philipp
Cathy Philipp started her legal career as Clerk to a High Court Judge in Wellington, but she now finds herself working as a freelancer in Singapore.
Becoming a freelancer
She moved away from traditional practice when she left New Zealand for family reasons and though that the freelance lifestyle would better suit her family situation. One of the key questions for the global legal profession to answer in 2023 is how do you retain top talent when their personal circumstances change. This is a regular occurrence in all professional services, not just within the legal profession and it is something which our previous blog article discussed at length.
Fortunately, the answer for Cathy was to make the move into freelancing, which she did in 2021 with the help of Pinsent Masons Vario’s Flexible Legal Services team. The call for her first assignment came whilst on a family holiday to Malaysia around Christmas two years ago.
Following an interview with her Client’s General Counsel, she got straight to work and she has continued with this placement ever since. Although she started off working part-time, her role has now grown into a full 5 day working week as she has become more immersed into the assignment.
“It’s
a fascinating role with interesting work and I am really enjoying it. You do have to be prepared for the inherent uncertainty, but with that risk also comes a lot of benefit."
A taste for travelling
Her passion has always been traveling and in the years leading up to Covid she extensively explored South-East Asia, enjoying the rich variety that the region has to offer. The pandemic put this passion on hold for Cathy, but a key draw behind being a freelancer was that she would be able to pick this back up.
We asked Cathy what she had expected about becoming a freelancer to see how this compared to her experience of it so far. She told us that she had expected that she would be completing assignments and then travelling in the time she had between. The nature of her first role has meant that the travel hasn’t yet materialised, but this has only sought to reignite Cathy’s enthusiasm for her career as well as her want to travel.
“Covid put a temporary stop to my travel plans, but luckily now travel is back on the agenda."
It’s clear from Cathy’s interests that her personality is one that embraces uncertainty. She has taken on the challenges that come with moving to a new country and working in a new way and used them to build a life she can enjoy.