Blaze Business & Legal

My firm, Blaze Business & Legal, is an innovative boutique management consultancy and law firm in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

I have 23+ years of experience as a strategic management consultant/business adviser, and senior lawyer specialising in construction law, contracting, major projects, risk, compliance, and procurement for business and government

I have acted as General Counsel, Procurement Adviser, Commercial Officer, Contract Administrator, Senior Legal Counsel and Strategic Adviser in different organisations - these roles have given me a depth of experience that is rare for most lawyers.

My knowledge of various industries allows me to effectively contribute to the overall strategic direction and performance of my clients. I have practiced in industries such as construction, property and development, retirement, government, Defence, ICT, infrastructure, civil, services, mining, water and wastewater. I have substantial experience in many forms of project delivery

I’m a strategic problem-solver who considers issues holistically from a combined legal, commercial and operational angle

I specialise in:

🔹drafting contracts
🔹providing strategic legal advice
🔹providing strategic procurement advice and drafting procurement documents
🔹drafting innovative contracts and other legal documents
🔹risk analysis and mitigation
🔹resolving problems for the organisation
🔹advising in relation to contract management
🔹analysing and advising in relation to compliance with policies and procedures and relevant laws 
🔹governance issues

Blaze Business & Legal specialises in construction law, commercial law, legal advice, legal advisory services, major projects, infrastructure, collaborative contracting, civil, mining, business advisory services, management consulting, change management, procurement, probity, risk analysis, risk advice, risk mitigation, compliance, governance, commercial advice, strategic advice and leadership development.

Managing Director

Blaze Professional Learning

I help Lawyers and Non-Lawyers work better with Contracts and improve their skills in Contract Planning, Contract Drafting, Contract Review, Contract Negotiation and Contract Management. I also work with Professionals to help them overcome their Imposter Syndrome.

Owner

Team Downer MSP

Commercial Manager

Australian Government Solicitor

I specialised in construction law, legal advice, legal advisory services, major projects, infrastructure, collaborative contracting, civil, government contracts, government advice, Defence advisory, procurement, probity, risk analysis, risk advice, risk mitigation, compliance, and governance.

Senior Lawyer

Defence Housing Australia

I acted as General Counsel of DHA and provided senior legal advice and high-level strategic input to the Board and Managing Director of DHA. Role included leading the legal team, managing all matters, supervising hire and performance of external lawyers and all General Counsel roles.

Acting General Counsel

Meyer Vandenberg Lawyers

Senior Associate

Airservices Australia

Senior Legal Counsel

Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Construction and Major Projects Group, Engineering Procurement Infrastructure Construction Division

Solicitor

Laing O'Rourke

Secondment to Laing O'Rourke in-house legal team

Corporate Legal Counsel

Thiess

Secondment as Acting General Counsel - NSW

Acting General Counsel - New South Wales

Helping you solve your Business Challenges:

💎 𝗢𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀: Know something is not right with your business, but you don't know who to ask for help? The structure doesn't reflect where your business is at now, things feel cobbled together and your procurement, contracting, compliance, risk management and governance need work. And it's all causing inefficiencies, compliance issues, loss of revenue and loss of sleep! You have 20 different problems in a giant ball that needs untangling. Let's chat, this is what I do!

💎 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀: Need help communicating your strategic direction to your CEO and implementing changes without causing waves? Or do you need a strategic adviser (who has also been a Board Member and is experienced in Governance) to help you work out the best future path for the organisation, then help communicate this to the CEO and get buy-in?

💎 𝗖𝗘𝗢𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀: Need a Chief Legal Officer or General Counsel but don't have the budget to hire one full-time? Need help solving specific problems and implementing solutions? Or need a strategic analysis of your organisation to work out the cause of your problem(s), then help fix them?

💎 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗹: Having problems within your Legal Division or with internal relationships in your organisation? Fixing these is a speciality of mine. Need extra senior resources on a flexible plug-and-play basis? Need a Senior Strategic Adviser to carry out a discrete legal or compliance project for your Division or the organisation as a whole?

💎 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀: Need help restructuring your Division, putting in place policies and procedures, implementing compliance, streamlining processes, or help putting in place tighter workflows with other Divisions (then documenting those workflows in diagram form)?

I use my combined strategic advisory, management consultancy and legal skills to help you to:

🔹Carry out major projects
🔹Manage and mitigate risk
🔹Improve your business
🔹provide strategic legal advice
🔹provide strategic procurement advice and draft procurement documents
🔹Make your processes more efficient and aligned with best industry practice
🔹Resolve Business Challenges
🔹Ensure compliance with relevant laws
🔹Draft policies and procedures 
🔹Deal with governance issues
🔹Improve cross-functional dynamics
🔹Improve your bottom line

Rachelle is the Owner of Brisbane Livewell Clinic, a wellness and natural therapies centre with 2 clinics in Brisbane.

Rachelle Hare

Document Crunch

Contracts Specialist

Climatec, LLC

Assistant Business Manager | Energy Services

Specialized in Energy GC work. 
-Manage all aspects of general contracting licenses, firm engineering licenses, and state registrations including procurement. 
-Provide contract support including drafting, acting as a liaison between lawyers and management to finalize contracts & agreements, and initial contract & agreement review for management. 
-Bid/proposal reviews for compliance flags. 
-Supporting/coaching project team members in contract basics + compliance.

Contract Manager

Wellcentive

Cloud based Population Health Software company (investor backed). 
-Executive support for 4 execs including travel, events + meetings, Concur expenses, and any other thing I could help with. 
-HR assistance with odd jobs as needed including internship fairs, building planning, office management, and large scale company meetings. 
-Sales + marketing support for trade shows and miscellaneous overflow.

Administrative Assistant

Taylor Commercial, Inc.

Commercial multi family GC with in-house siding services. 
-Managed all licensing and registrations.
-Managed AP for corporate and job payables including cutting checks + Amex coding, reconciling accounts, lien release compliance, and COI oversight. 
-Part of the team that helped in the project management software switch and with new contract suite adoption + implementation. 
-Managed AP, provided inventory help, light office management, and overall Netsuite problem solver for sister Building Supply company. 
-Project support for GC/subcontracting projects up to $1M. 
-Avid reader of all company contracts.

Accounting Assistant

Newco Construction

Commercial GC that specialized in retail/grocery renovations nationwide. 
-Created & distributed bid packages for projects, primary contact between Newco and bidding subs, and provided support to project estimators
-Searched for local subs and created a database for distributing bids on every bid
-Provided project administrator support on awarded projects during “feast” periods

Bid Coordinator

Associated Students, Inc. at CSUS

Non-profit student-led organization.  
-Assisted Vice President of University Affairs with committee recruitment, committee facilitation, and scheduling
-Assisted Board Associate with safety follow-up through accident investigations and ergonomic education 
-Provided support for the Customer Service Representatives
-Processed club grant reimbursements and provided logistical and staff support for Finance & Budget meetings

Administrative Assistant to the Board Associate

Barnes & Noble

Sold books while I worked my way through my Bachelor’s degree.

Bookseller

Parchments Cafe & Bookstore

-Managed bookstore operations including inventory management, tracking shipments, working with multiple vendors, handling special orders for Cornerstone Fellowship’s Ministries, and created various marketing displays
-Managed the café side and was responsible for personnel management (5-7 employees), hiring and training, and customer service

Assistant Manager

Construction Contracts Specialist

Currently a construction contract encourager. 

What does that mean? 

1. I encourage you to read your contracts before signing. 

2. I encourage you to comply with them after signing. 

3. Then, I encourage you to learn from the process and make changes to your contracts (the ones you make and the ones you get) to reflect your business. 

Reading and negotiating contracts is a skill you can learn just like you learned everything else. 

If you’re curious: I was a construction contract manager and now I work in a super awesome construction contract software company called Document Crunch. 

Need to find those risky provisions for pre signature redlining faster? 

You can. 

And you can do it in Word. 

Want to ask all your questions and get understandable answers back straight from the horses mouth [meaning the legally binding project guide you signed aka your contract]? 

Oh, yes. You absolutely can. (And it’s the best thing ever.)

My background is retail, multi family, and turnkey energy solutions - from both GC and subcontractor sides. 

taplio

The Battle

Rachelle Hare

Maegan Spivey

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