The In-House Advantage: Natalie Dobson on Variety, Collaboration and Flexibility

After starting her career in private practice in New Zealand and London, Nat Dobson spent eight years at Westpac before joining SHIFT. In this conversation, she reflects on how in-house work exposed her to different ways of thinking, why lawyers shouldn’t underestimate their broader skillsets, and how flexibility and balance ultimately allow people to do their best work.

Natalie Dobson’s career has taken her from private practice in New Zealand and London through to in-house legal and remediation roles at Westpac, before eventually joining SHIFT.

It was during her time at Westpac that Natalie’s perspective on legal work, and the kind of career she wanted, really evolved.

“I moved into customer remediation for the last four years,” she says. “That was really interesting because it brought me much closer to the business.”

The move outside a traditional legal role also changed the way she thought about the value lawyers bring to organisations.

“It really helped me appreciate the wider skill set lawyers have — how to think critically, write clearly and analyse problems,” she says. “When you’re sitting in a law firm, everyone around you has been trained the same way. But internally, you work with strategy people, operational teams and data specialists, and you see all these different ways people think.”

Rather than focusing purely on technical legal expertise, Natalie found herself increasingly drawn to the broader problem-solving and collaborative side of the role.

“I like understanding the environment you’re operating in and helping the business go through it,” she says. “It’s about translating the law into what the business actually wants to achieve.”

That experience also shaped how she sees the nature of in-house legal work itself.

“When you’re in-house, you have to meet people where they are. You need to really understand what they do so they can instruct you properly and so you can help move things forward,” she says. “You’re not just giving legal advice and walking away – you’re working alongside the business the whole time.”

“In-house lawyers need strong judgement, commercial awareness and the ability to operate comfortably in grey areas,’’ she adds, “Sometimes you’re helping businesses make risk-based decisions rather than just pointing to the black-letter law. That’s a very different skillset.”

That shift in perspective also influenced how she thought about her long-term career path.

“I’d realised that becoming a GC probably wasn’t my goal,” she says. “For me, it became more about doing interesting work with good people.”

That thinking is what eventually led her to SHIFT.

“When I spoke to SHIFT, they said, ‘Come and do some roles with SHIFT because you can go and see different places and experience different things, and that will help you identify what you really enjoy doing.’”

Natalie says the variety of work and the ability to move between different projects and organisations was a major drawcard.

She also believes the SHIFT model offers something increasingly valuable for both lawyers and businesses.

“In-house teams are being asked to stay really lean,” she says. “Models like SHIFT give businesses access to experienced in-house lawyers without needing to go through full hiring processes or fixed-term recruitment.”

For Natalie, the flexibility her SHIFT secondments offer have also fundamentally changed her relationship with work.

“Moving down to four days a week has revolutionised my life,” she says. “The work I enjoy is often project-based and pretty intense, so having that extra day to recover and reset means I’m better during the four days I’m working.”

Outside work, Natalie spends much of her time trail running, ocean swimming and being outdoors.

“Really, I just love being out in New Zealand nature,” she says.

For her, that balance the SHIFT model offers means the best of both worlds.

“The ability to have that downtime means the client’s getting the best,” she says. “It allows me to keep doing this work and still really enjoy it.”