Friends of Nexa: Antonia Welch

Nexa’s friends helping our business succeed: Antonia Welch

At Nexa we are fortunate to work with some fantastic suppliers who help us every day to run our business in the most effective way. In fact, it’s no exaggeration to say, we couldn’t do it without them!

In our latest blog we talk to Antonia Welch of Welch PR about her work supporting Nexa and its consultants with PR and marketing services. Here’s what she had to say:

How long have you worked with Nexa? 

I started working with Nexa on a project basis in 2020 but I’ve been working with on a retainer since March this year. I first came across CEO Nigel Clark, back in 2015 when I had just set up my freelance business and was doing some PR for a London law firm where Nigel was the COO, we kept in touch.

Where did you train/work before Nexa?

My background is corporate PR. My first role was in the press office of an international property company before moving into the legal sector where I worked at Allen & Overy and Howard Kennedy.

I took a career gap of exactly a decade when I had my first child and moved out of London.  When I looked to return to work, I realised that a long commute wouldn’t be practical, so I set up as a freelancer and haven’t looked back! I can therefore really relate to the solicitors working as consultants at Nexa who have made the leap from an employed career to being their own boss.

Can you tell us as little about how your support Nexa?

As well as providing advice on general marketing strategy, my key role is to source media opportunities for Nexa and its consultants. This could be in the legal press, national press or on business podcasts.

Nexa is one of the fastest growing legal consultancy platforms in the UK, but it has great potential to scale even further and compete with the established brands; it isn’t yet as well-known as say Keystone or Gunnercooke but I believe it could be, and that is my challenge!

High quality media coverage is important to Nexa because it will build Nexa’s brand reputation and encourage solicitors who are thinking about becoming consultants to look at the platform seriously.

Via the media, we can also promote NexaConnex, the relatively new service which places Nexa consultants into to mid-market law firms that need extra resource support, or perhaps don’t have capability in a certain area which they need for a particular project.

What do you enjoy about your work in the legal sector?

Although a very niche area, I am fortunate that the work of a legal PR is so varied. On a day-to-day basis I work with a wide variety of lawyers ranging from corporate teams through to divorce specialists and white-collar crime experts.

Clients tend to be very bright and at the top of their game so it’s rewarding to work in such a stimulating environment.

I also enjoy the buzz of dealing with journalists on national newspapers who are often working on breaking news stories.

I still get the same thrill when I secure a great piece of media coverage for a client as I did in my first PR role over two decades ago. In the long run, good communication can drive growth and real business results, so it is rewarding to play a key part of this process.

What do you enjoy about working with Nexa?

Most of my clients since I started freelancing in 2015 have been law firms. As they are usually structured as partnerships, law firms tend to be traditional in their operation so it’s refreshing to work with a consultancy platform which is forward-thinking, fast-moving and innovative.

The team at Nexa are genuinely caring, they really believe in purpose/giving back as well as making sure that their consultants are well supported and can work flexibly – which I can see is a big attraction of the consultancy model.

Nexa is an exciting client to work with because the team is always up for a challenge and never stand still so you never know what’s around the corner!