{"id":507874,"date":"2026-07-03T12:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T12:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/507874\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T12:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T12:14:11","slug":"exclusive-ex-jones-day-associate-swaps-law-for-protein-bars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/507874\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE Ex-Jones Day associate swaps law for protein bars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Marcus Greet.jpg\" data-entity-uuid=\"c441bd6c-d038-422c-93c7-788747a46024\" data-entity-type=\"file\" alt=\"Greet\" width=\"707\" height=\"543\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Marcus Greet.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Before-after-pic.jpg\" data-entity-uuid=\"a8d47a17-b856-48f9-81f4-1879dfb2ad4b\" data-entity-type=\"file\" alt=\"Before after\" width=\"595\" height=\"228\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A lawyer before and after eating a Halcyon bar. (Disclaimer: a RollOnFriday simulation, individual results may vary).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollonfriday.com\/firm\/jones-day\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Jones Day<\/a> lawyer has left his legal career to launch a protein bar.<\/p>\n<p>Lawyers seeking a new challenge isn&#8217;t a new phenomenon. But instead of inventing an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollonfriday.com\/news-content\/osborne-clarke-lawyer-invents-new-potty\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">ergonomic potty<\/a> or becoming a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollonfriday.com\/news-content\/lawyer-quits-profession-talk-animals-living-and-dead\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pet psychic<\/a>, Marcus Greet has quit his job as a junior associate to launch his protein-confectionary business, Halcyon, on Kickstarter.<\/p>\n<p>Greet said he had an &#8220;unconventional&#8221; route into City Law: he lost both of his parents as a teenager and was a carer for his dad in his last months before he succumbed to cancer; he was kicked out of both his aunt\u2019s and a family friend\u2019s house; and said his &#8220;most impressive&#8221; grades at school included a G in GCSE Welsh and a U in AS-level Sports Science.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I somehow made it into a non-Russell Group university to study law. My attendance was appalling and grades mostly average,&#8221; said Greet. But he committed to do a Masters at another uni, and subsequently managed to bag a training contract at Jones Day.<\/p>\n<p>However, not long after qualifying as an associate at Jones Day, Greet took the plunge to start Halcyon. He told RollOnFriday that he&#8217;d been thinking about starting his own business for a while, and it dawned on him that &#8220;there probably wouldn\u2019t be a better time to start my own thing than after qualifying: I wouldn\u2019t ever be younger and with fewer responsibilities than at that point.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>With an interest in fitness and being &#8220;slightly obsessed with eating well&#8221;, he was aware that &#8220;a lot of gyms were looking for healthier protein bar options&#8221;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The traditional options are loaded with ultra-processed ingredients, and the emerging &#8216;clean&#8217; alternatives I\u2019ve tried aren\u2019t as healthy as they claim or taste like compromise at best&#8221;, said Greet.<\/p>\n<p>He went about making healthy snacks in his own kitchen, and tried to perfect a product by making &#8220;nearly 1,000 batches before locking in the first three flavours&#8221;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The former Jones Day lawyer said that he wanted to create snacks that are &#8220;reminiscent of our favourite sweet treats whilst also using real ingredients&#8221;, adding &#8220;the fact that each bar has more protein than most widely available options is an added bonus&#8221;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To save money to launch the business, Greet has been looking after people\u2019s cats while they are away to avoid paying rent. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/marcusgreet\/halcyon-protein-confection\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kickstarter launched this week<\/a>, and he&#8217;s already had an early win as JAB Boxing Club in Victoria has started stocking his bars for sale after a trial.<\/p>\n<p>RollOnFriday put the snacks to a taste test in a FIFA World Cup (non-approved) knock-out format, judged by its resident protein bar consumer and chief whey taste-tester:<\/p>\n<p>(1) Halcyon double chocolate brownie vs Grenade soft-core &#8216;Creme Egg&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/01b-Halcyon.jpg\" data-entity-uuid=\"a572e6eb-a873-48d6-9e80-0fe2db607bb2\" data-entity-type=\"file\" alt=\"1H\" width=\"589\" height=\"264\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Halcyon double chocolate brownie was so good that you&#8217;d fight off a seagull for the last bite. The Grenade bar had the texture and taste of shrapnel mixed with dog poo.<\/p>\n<p>Winner: Halcyon double chocolate brownie<\/p>\n<p>(2) Halcyon caramel peanut fudge vs Fulfil chocolate salted caramel flavour<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/02-b-Halcyon.jpg\" data-entity-uuid=\"a31cc766-41b4-4d4a-9968-729e291fd275\" data-entity-type=\"file\" alt=\"02H\" width=\"605\" height=\"275\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Halcyon caramel peanut fudge&#8217;s brown colour conjured up the nourishment of soil and the promise of spring. The Fulfil chocolate salted caramel&#8217;s brown colour was reminiscent of manure decaying on a hot day.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Winner: Halcyon caramel peanut fudge.<\/p>\n<p>(3) Halcyon vanilla berry blondie vs Huel dark chocolate &amp; raspberry<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/03b-Halcy.jpg\" data-entity-uuid=\"a7544977-e92e-432b-a781-9524cbace4db\" data-entity-type=\"file\" alt=\"03 Halc\" width=\"525\" height=\"244\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Halcyon vanilla berry blondie went down like a bottle of Ch\u00e2teau Cheval Blanc, but provided a healthy glow rather than a hangover. The Huel dark chocolate &amp; raspberry went down like a gallon of Blue Nun, followed by a Steven Bartlett misery-level hangover.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Winner: Halcyon vanilla berry blondie<\/p>\n<p>So that&#8217;s a resounding 3-0 to Halcyon.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The quality of office snacks comes up in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollonfriday.com\/news-content\/exclusive-coffee-ash-free-gourmet-food-lowdown-law-firm-refreshments\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">RollOnFriday&#8217;s survey of the profession<\/a>. With a canny eye on the legal market, Greet told RollOnFriday that &#8220;lawyers are often busy, between meetings and working long hours, but are increasingly scrutinising food choices&#8221;, and Halcyon can &#8220;fill the gap between a treat and an ingredient-conscious snack: indulgence-first, but designed for people who check the back of the wrapper.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Greet was positive about his time at Jones Day (others have been less diplomatic when escaping <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollonfriday.com\/news-content\/jones-day-claims-terrible-frat-culture-described-women-not-jones-day\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the Pit of Sarlaac<\/a>). When it came to the firm&#8217;s snacks, he believed that while they were &#8220;well-received&#8230;personally I found that healthier options were mostly lacking. It goes without saying that they could improve their offering by stocking some Halcyon bars!&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As well as pleasing RollOnFriday&#8217;s taste buds, Greet also scores highly for his promo ad (created by an old primary school friend of his), which captures the spirit of Wes Anderson&#8217;s &#8216;Fantastic Mr Fox&#8217;, and seems preferable to using some gurning influencer harping on about tracking their macros. It&#8217;s also the most creative advert featured on RoF this year, albeit that&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollonfriday.com\/news-content\/law-firm-embraces-grind-bespoke-mourant-blend-coffee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a very low bar.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marcus Greet.\u00a0 A lawyer before and after eating a Halcyon bar. (Disclaimer: a RollOnFriday simulation, individual results may&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[134,111,139,556,69],"class_list":["post-507874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nutrition","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}