Case study: Legal services designed for Farfetch

Learn how the legal team at Farfetch are working with Obelisk Support
to deliver an award-winning service to their business

“Working with Obelisk Support helps us to deliver a cost-effective and high-quality legal service for our business.” Holly Sage, Head of Legal (Corporate/Commercial), Farfetch

Farfetch is the leading global technology platform for the luxury fashion industry. It connects curators, creators and consumers around the world and offers an unrivalled range of products from over 1,000 luxury brands and retailers.   Farfetch provides 22 localised websites in 15 different languages, multilingual customer support and superior delivery options, including same-day delivery in 19 major global cities.

With 18 lawyers and two paralegals worldwide, the legal team at Farfetch provide a comprehensive service within their business, covering a range of matters including general commercial, corporate, IP, brand protection, litigation, regulatory, compliance and data protection matters.   The team were recently named In-house TMT Team of the Year by The Lawyer.

Outsourcing Legal at Farfetch

Farfetch first came to Obelisk Support in 2018, looking for extra resources as they approached their IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.   Head of Legal (Corporate/Commercial), Holly Sage, remembers, “We had two of our team out on planned leave and were conscious of the need to manage our regular commercial and contract review work alongside the extra work required of the internal team for the IPO.  In particular, we wanted to protect the requirements of business teams who contract to provide services to third-parties – we didn’t want to risk any disruption to their operations. Obelisk Support were recommended to us as someone who could provide help, fast.”  

Initially staffed by just one Obelisk Support consultant covering general commercial matters, the remote team has now expanded to include consultants with financial services, corporate, banking and more diverse commercial expertise.  Says Holly, “There are two main benefits for us. The first is that Obelisk Support’s consultants are experienced and hugely knowledgeable. We’ve always been impressed by their technical skills and the quality of the work that comes back.  The second is that if we didn’t have this resource then we would have to either send work to law firms, which would cost a lot more, or the work would have to wait for us in the central team to have time, which could cause delays for the business.  Working with Obelisk Support helps us to deliver a cost-effective and high-quality legal service for our business.”

For anyone else considering a similar service, Holly recommends thinking big from day one.  “If I did this again, I would set up and brief a large pool of consultants from the start. That way as work comes in, you know you are covered without having to take extra time to get people up to speed. Obelisk Support are a useful source of knowledgeable lawyers who can act as an extension to your legal team.”