Too Big for Her Boots: Mel Storey’s Journey through Corporate Law as an In-House Lawyer to Content Creation
Author: Kieley Cornwell
Interviewers: Alexandra Cherk, Nishara Fernando
Mel Storey shares with us her ‘tapestry’ of experience in the legal profession; woven with shifts from private practice to in-house roles, and now into the world of social media coaching and educating.
Chapter 1: Graduated Law School… What now?
Mel graduated from Bond University 15 years ago. After not landing any clerkships or a graduate position at a big law firm, she packed her bags and headed off backpacking Europe. Until she ran out of money.
After returning from Europe, having no legal contacts and being the first member of her family in the legal profession, Mel did the only thing she could think to do – she printed out some resumes, and handed them out to every law firm and barrister she could in her city. Luckily enough, Mel received a call from Corrs Chambers Westgarth, a big national commercial firm in Australia, looking for more graduate lawyers.
‘I could not believe my luck,’ was what Mel thought when she got the call. She was surprised that a firm that previously would ‘never have looked at [her] as an option’ due to her average GPA would consider her. After interviewing with the firm, Mel landed her first graduate position. In this position, she rotated through different practice areas before settling in the corporate (mergers and acquisitions) front-end transactions group.
Chapter 2: Climbing the Corporate Ladder?
Pretty early on in Mel’s career she realised that the corporate ladder would not fit her long term. She admitted that making her way up the corporate ladder was not something that inspired her, nor did she feel it best suited her skills.
After gaining some experience at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Mel moved into an in-house lawyer position as a junior legal counsel for the Brisbane Airport Corporation – a role that really suited her personality and strengths. She reveals that she ‘had no idea [in-house] was even a way of practising as a commercial lawyer.’ After this, Mel spent 12 years working across various industries. Eventually, she made her way to the top of the chain as the Head of Legal in the Asia-Pacific region for a technology company based in the US.
Chapter 3: In-house vs Commercial Law Firm
One of the most obvious differences Mel notes is the mindset between working as an in-house lawyer and working for a commercial law firm in private practice.
In a firm, you’re essentially a service provider to many clients – your work is broad and varied across industries, but you tend to specialise deeply in one legal area, like Employment Law or Litigation. Mel describes this like the shape of the letter ‘T’: wide exposure of clients and industries through the firm, but narrow in expertise on a particular area of law. In contrast, in-house counsel have just one client, and thus the ‘T’ analogy flips: you develop a little bit of knowledge across various area of law that would affect a business, but you build a deep understanding of the industry: your client. In Mel’s first in-house lawyer role for Brisbane Airport Corporation, she learnt a lot about airports, such as aviation, airlines and runways.
Another difference Mel favoured was the removal of billable hours when working in-house. In private practice, your worth is often measured by time targets and KPIs, with bonuses tied to how much you bill. Moving in-house frees you from that metric, which Mel describes as ‘the biggest relief’ – the focus shifted from clocking hours to providing real, strategic value for your one client.
Mel’s easily accessible and informative TikTok page. To see more click here.
Chapter 4: Building her Media Empire
Despite her successful career as an in-house lawyer, Mel explains how she could no longer ignore her passion for social media. After beginning content creation 5 years prior as a side hustle, Mel needed to see what she could achieve if she focused on content creation full-time. Through platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn, Mel began building her ‘media empire’, connecting with students and graduates by sharing stories about her experience as an in-house lawyer.
Mel is now self-employed and not currently practising law. Part of her work involves helping lawyers build the courage to step away from the traditional firm mindset and grow a personal brand. She states that branding is often underrated in the legal profession, even though it’s one of the most powerful ways to stay front of mind, earn business, and create networking opportunities. How can you brand yourself like Mel, you may ask? Mel applies two tests to each of her posts: ‘What would my mum think?’ And, ‘What would my boss think?’ She says that this test ensures her online presence remains professional while getting the message across.
Chapter 5: Reflecting on Law School
Looking back, Mel says one thing she would have done differently would be to go on exchange during law school. Her advice? Take the leap. ‘Dump him and go on exchange.’ More broadly, she stresses that ‘your career is a marathon, not a sprint.’ You do not need to know what you want to do straight away. Mel likes to view her career progression as a ‘tapestry of experience’ – each detour adds colour and depth, and ‘no experience is ever wasted.’
Mel has always felt that she was ‘too big for her boots.’ But instead of taking this as a criticism, she chose to reclaim it. She recognised that being ‘too big’ simply meant she was outgrowing the box others had placed her in. Her journey shows us how life is about daring to step up, proving to yourself that you can do hard things, and embracing ambition as a driver for growth.
A image that depicts a colourful and deep ‘tapestry of experience’.