SJ Interview: Gary Gallen

Gary Gallen is the Founder and CEO of the rradar group of companies, a multimillion-pound enterprise revolutionising legal services. With over 25 years’ experience as a corporate defence lawyer, Gary launched rradar in 2012 to challenge traditional law and make proactive, accessible legal support a reality for businesses.

What inspired you to become a lawyer? And how did you get to where you are today?

I’ve always had a keen sense of justice, having come from humble roots. My dad, an Irish immigrant, was a boxer and labourer who passed away when I was young. My mum took in laundry to make ends meet. After he died, I worked three jobs while in school to help support our family.

I went on to study law at Coventry University, after which I joined a small firm in Scunthorpe and went on to build one of the region’s largest criminal practices. I later joined DLA Piper in 2001 and became an equity partner, which took me to the heights of the legal profession. 

But I saw a bigger issue: SMEs were drowning in legal and regulatory risks, with no real support. The traditional legal model was reactive, expensive and outdated, and I knew there had to be a better way. I saw an opportunity to disrupt the industry for the better, so I left behind the security of big law to create rradar and make the law more approachable and affordable for all businesses, not just the elite few.

What prompted you to launch rradar?

When the Legal Services Act was passed, allowing alternative business structures, I saw an opportunity. Why not create a law firm that doesn’t just react to problems, but helps businesses prevent them? We could use technology, share knowledge and design insurance products that actually protect people.

I was frustrated watching SMEs get crushed by legal complexities, claims drag on for years and businesses go bankrupt, while insurers prioritised bureaucracy over protection. I wanted to flip the script. Instead of waiting for a crisis, let’s give businesses the tools, training and support to avoid those crises altogether.

In 2012, I founded rradar with the goal of democratising legal and insurance expertise, simplifying complex things and putting knowledge directly in business owners’ hands. It wasn’t just a business idea; it was a mission to fundamentally change how legal and insurance services work.

Today, we embed proactive legal risk management services into businesses’ insurance policies, encouraging them to seek advice before claims arise. In doing so, we aim to empower businesses to act proactively, creating greater social value and a fairer economy.

Can you tell us about any success stories?

From starting with just me, rradar now has over 250 employees across offices in Hull, Leeds, Birmingham, Glasgow, Leicester, Clitheroe and London. We support over 135,000 businesses. We’re now a multi-million pound enterprise, growing rapidly, with international expansion on the cards. 

Trying to disrupt an industry historically resistant to change wasn’t easy. I lost count of the times I heard, “That’s not how we do it here.” But I thrive on that kind of challenge. In business and life, the power of your will is key, combined with resilience and a passionate belief that your actions will make a difference.

How do you approach disrupting the legal sector?

We’ve been disruptive from the outset, and innovation is at the core of what rradar does. We built a law firm that thinks like a tech company and operates like a strategic risk partner.

We provide a holistic digital/human hybrid model that is available to clients on a private basis, or through an embedded service within insurance policies, to offer an approach that prevents risk and reduces costly insurance claims for all parties. Our technology and digital platforms are developed in-house and underpin our preventative strategy to make the law more accessible and affordable. Rather than legal advice being delivered to the few, we can deliver it to many using our technology and in-house expertise, supporting people to run better businesses.

How does rradar help businesses?

Across the rradar ecosystem, we take a three-pronged approach of ‘prevent, manage, fix’ to offer a holistic approach to risk management, focusing on prevention through education, legal support and traditional risk advisory.

We have created a suite of proprietary technology-driven products and services, which fundamentally reduce risk. This includes rradargrace, our intelligent legal assistant. It learns from every client interaction and was created using our legal and tech expertise, available 24/7, providing only accurate and up-to-date advice. Similarly, rradarstation, an online, jargon-free knowledge library containing thousands of assets, enables businesses to build the right processes and, ultimately, prevent problems from ever unfolding.

These work hand in glove with the other innovative technology products we have developed on our platform, such as rradarreport, which provides clients with a digital incident reporting tool that keeps them compliant in the midst of any potential crisis and, rradarrisk, which they use to identify and analyse risks that could disrupt their business, so that they can take preventative steps to mitigate against those risks.

And while we’re experts at reducing risk, we accept that we can’t eradicate it completely, which is where our experienced team of legal advisors and full legal representation services come in, they support clients if things do go wrong for them, across the full complement of commercial legal disciplines. 

How are businesses’ expectations changing in regard to the provision of legal services?

Clients are rejecting the traditional legal model in favour of on-demand, cost-effective legal services. We’re operating in an increasingly litigious environment, and businesses don’t just want lawyers who fight fires, they want experts who prevent them. They also want access to the very best advice and support, when they need it and without heavy price tags.

That’s where our approach stands out. We give businesses the tools and knowledge to be proactive, protecting themselves from legal pitfalls before they happen, and we can guide a client through any problems, if they do arise.

Can you tell us anything about the focus of rradar going forward? 

We have ambitious goals on the horizon. We plan to expand into new practice areas and jurisdictions, which are already underway. We’re the only licensed law firm on the Global Incubator Programme in Canada and have completed trade missions in North America this year.

There will also be further developments of rrelentless, launched as a sister company under the rradar group of companies in 2024. New products and services are coming, building on the successful launch of the relentless cyber insurance product, in which rradar’s legal and risk management services are embedded. 

We’ll also continue to invest in digital transformation to evolve rradar’s business capabilities, providing the tools to tackle the challenges of today’s business environment, deliver market-leading client value and retain a sharp competitive advantage.

The work is never over; we will always continue to improve and expand our services to provide the best possible service to our clients.

What achievements are you most proud of so far in your career? 

Looking back at my career and time as Founder and CEO of rradar, there’s a lot to celebrate.

Partnering with a global insurer to provide proactive legal services and risk management tools, as part of a new insurance/legal services model, which would go on to become one of the most successful in the insurance market has been a huge milestone.

On a personal note, I am humbled to have received recognition from some of the biggest names; those that really stand out in my mind are the EY Transformational Leader and Entrepreneur of the Year title, which I received in 2021, and, last year, when I was named one of LDC’s Top 50 Most Ambitious Leaders and became a finalist for Economic Innovator of the Year.

It hasn’t always been easy, but I have found that nothing truly worthwhile in any aspect of life comes without commitment, passion and proper graft. The effort must come before the reward, and I am immensely proud of our business accolades. We have been recognised this year as a Times’ 250 Best Law Firm 2025, alongside over 30 national and European awards programmes over the last 10 years. These accolades recognise the incredible people who I am proud to work with every day.

What would you like to be remembered for? 

I’d like to be remembered for my resilience. I’ve overcome many adversities throughout my life, but I’ve always come out the other end stronger. It’s important to me that I pass this on and lead by example. Each day, I want to show my team that no challenge is too great; if I can do it, so can they. With hard graft and a brilliant support network around you, anything is possible.

Outside my career, I continue trying to make a difference. I pledged to raise thousands of pounds for charities through a 100-mile bike ride, a climb to the Base Camp of Everest and, most recently, taking part in the 2025 London Marathon. The Everest experience pushed me to new limits, but ultimately left me more connected to the world and myself. It was a reminder that you must be willing to take a risk, which is an essential attitude for success in any aspect of life, whether starting a new relationship, having a child or starting up a business, and something I will continue to take forward.

How would you like to see the legal profession evolve in the next decade? 

I would expect the continued advancement of client-centric approaches. With a shift towards more client-centric business models, I would like to see the profession embracing alternative structures and pricing models that prioritise value over billable hours. 

Of course, the legal profession must adapt quickly to technological advancements. Firms that adopt innovative technologies will gain further competitive advantages. This means we need to continue exploring how we can leverage technology to empower legal practitioners to thrive, while also making legal services more accessible and transparent.

Ultimately, I’d like to see lawyers embracing a proactive evolution of legal practice, to be strategic risk partners for the businesses they represent and advise, which is exactly what we stand for here at rradar.

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