Counsel

Publicly listed emails

theinhouselawyer@gmail.com

mel@melstorey.com

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65. It's Not Luck: Meet the Newest Member of Counsel Media

September 23, 2026

This episode is a little different, because I am introducing you to Lily, the newest member of the Counsel Media team and the first person I have hired since turning the podcast into a business. We talk about how a daily coffee order turned into a job offer and why I deliberately looked outside the legal industry for this role. Lily shares the decision she made to walk away from a place studying medicine in South Africa, move to Australia on her own and build a new life through long shifts a...

64. Do We Have a Chicken in the Fight with Courtenay Willis

September 18, 2026

My guest this week is Courtenay, General Counsel and Company Secretary for Nando's Australia and New Zealand, and she has done something most lawyers are told never to do. She built her entire legal career in-house, starting as legal admin and working her way up, without a single day spent in private practice. We get into what it actually took to build a career that way, including the general counsel who taught her everything one on one with a red pen in hand, the friend who asked her one qu...

63. Legal Is Not the Department of 'No' with Jess Carroll

August 19, 2026

Jessica Carroll spent eight years as a litigator before a stint inside her husband's business changed how she saw the profession entirely. In this episode she talks with Mel about the winding path from courtroom advocacy to building The Brisbane Lawyer brand, moving in-house, and eventually running her own fractional legal practice. Jess gets specific about what it actually takes to build a fractional practice, from scoping engagements and pricing retainers to the scope creep that comes with...