The Challenge
When Silv Roest joined The Warehouse Group (TWG) as General Counsel, the legal function had seen a lot of movement. With the previous leadership having left months earlier and a mix of secondees and contractors supporting in the interim, Silv needed immediate legal capacity while figuring out what the team really needed.
“I needed to hit the ground with people to help me so that I had the time and headspace to get up to speed, but I was also conscious of not rushing into the recruitment because I wanted to take the time to work out what the work coming in was.”
Alongside the day-to-day legal work, there was also an expectation to make progress on process and operating model improvements, all within the constraints of a small team and tight budget.
The Solution
Having worked with Juno Legal before, the TWG legal team reached out to explore options. After a quick conversation to confirm their needs, Juno suggested Luana D’Appollonio to provide immediate support and create space for strategic thinking.
“Juno gave me support immediately, but in a contract model that gave me the headspace to learn about the organisation, observe workflows, and identify what I wanted to recruit for.”
There were a few early considerations of cost, hours, and remote working. But Juno’s flexible model made it easy to tailor support to what the TWG team needed. Luana stepped in when capacity and time was tight, kept things moving, and created space to plan with confidence.
Luana’s experience across other organisations meant she could bring fresh perspective and structure, while embedding into the team seamlessly. With open communication from the outset and shared ownership of the work, she quickly became a trusted extension of the team.
Luana’s support had three key components:
- Immediate capacity: “Hands and feet” legal support, especially reviewing and advising on commercial contracts
- Strategic insight: Supporting with the identification of team priorities, needs and goals, which included assisting Silv in designing, planning and facilitating a team offsite.
- Legal operations: Building base-level process documents and frameworks, including guidelines for contracting and procurement
“Luana was like a bit of right-hand support for me. I was seeing things that needed to be sorted out but didn’t have time to put pen to paper. So she’d go off and do that, socialise it with the team, then come back to me.”
The Benefits
While providing immediate support, Luana also helped enhance TWG’s legal operating model and position the team to support the business more effectively - made possible by her proactive approach, Silv’s openness, and the team’s collaboration.
“Luana delivered on what we needed in her time here and helped identify the next steps. I was able to recruit based on the skills matrix we developed, and there was a pretty seamless handover when her engagement ended.”
Her process work continues to shape the team’s ways of working.
“We’re playing around with that same model now, having team members ringfence time to keep pushing process improvements forward. It’s not always easy with day-to-day demands, but the structure Luana put in place working alongside the other team members really helped.”
Silv credits the success of the engagement to Juno’s flexible model and a strong two-way working relationship.
“I did work pretty closely with Luana, asking her to do things, giving clear instructions and timeframes, and staying connected. That two-way relationship really sets you up.”
Luana brought energy, structure, and a genuine effort to connect, embedding herself in the team and making the remote arrangement work seamlessly.
“She was a key part of the team for over six months. That’s why it worked so well.”
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