This year’s Minority Lawyers Conference was an extremely interesting event bringing together lawyers from many different backgrounds, from both the Solicitors profession and from the Bar.
I was on the panel for the session on Personal and Career Development - page 3 of the programme. On the same panel were Kim Hollis QC, Thalejv Vaashishta from Paragon Law and Amrik Kandola from Eversheds.
Kim Hollis QC spoke about becoming a QC and the challenges of networking with the right people.
Thalejv Vashishta from Paragon Law spoke about how he founded his own law firm and the importance of mentoring.
Amrik Kandola, partner in Eversheds, spoke about how to become a partner.
I spoke about achieving work - life balance, networking and goal setting.
Minority Lawyers Conference Programme (Follow link for the Programme).You can view my presentation here:
The session covered many aspects of managing your career in the legal profession. For me the highlights included….
Kim Hollis’s observation that, when networking, it is often the case that you wish to speak to the same person that everyone else has made a beeline for and you can’t get close to them for love nor money. She drew from her own experience of a networking event where she found herself talking to a little old man in the corner of the room that nobody else seemed interested in. It transpired that he was a very well known judge that no-one had recognised. (This, of course, can happen: you don’t get photos of the judges who’s judgement you have read in the papers or in the case extract! How many people actually know what all the Law Lords look like?). They had a thoroughly interesting conversation and helped with her career. Her advice included:
- make a list of all those people who will be at the event and decide which ones you want to talk to
- if you can’t get to speak to those on your list, don’t dismiss the people in the room who no-one else is talking to as they may actually turn out to be very important contacts
- go to as many networking events as possible and don’t underestimate the value of networking
Thalejv Vashishta of Paragon Law told about how he started off his life as an immigration lawyer. He had not chosen this path but the firm he joined, asked him to set up their immigration practice, which he duly did. However, even though it was really successful the firm decided that they no longer wanted an immigration practice, so he founded his own firm. He observed that:
- you don’t always choose your own career path - it is chosen for you.
- even when you are on a very good path, you can end up having to change your plans quite drastically.
- a mentor is vital for giving you objective advice, guidance and constructive criticism and providing a sounding board to test your ideas.
- find a mentor who has time, enthusiasm, relevant experience and who is committed to being your mentor
Amrik Kandola is a partner of Eversheds. When he joined, he determined that he would become a partner of the firm come hell or high water. However, when it came to applying for the post-qualification job of litigator, there were more applicants than vacancies. It was also well known in the firm that the firm had made up their mind who was going to get these jobs before the interviews took place and Amrik knew he wasn’t going to be one of them! However, he stuck it out and finally got a job. He did this by telling the firm that he would do all the leg work of setting up the firms client relationship system to give clients feedback on how their work was going, how much it was costing them, who was working on their matters etc. He did this all in his own time in addition to all his chargeable hours. What this did was to gradually build up his relationship with all these clients and he found himself in the position of being able to allocate the work coming into the firm. Consequently, he was able to allocate more and more of the type of work he wanted to himself! After a while, his caseload was such that the firm recognised his contribution and made him a partner. His main observations were:
- don’t give up even if there is no apparent job for you
- look for innovative ways to create a role for yourself that no-one else has spotted
- put in the non-chargeable hours creating good client relationships which will eventually lead to work coming your way that might not otherwise
One of the most interesting things I found though was that only a very few people in the audience wanted to become a partner. Amrik started his session by asking the audience: "How many of you here want to become a partner". The response was what I expected, but wasn’t what Amrik expected. Only a handful (I think around 4) people put their hands up.
The fact is that increasing numbers of young lawyers do not want to become partners: they see the huge sacrifices of time, energy, family life and outside interests that are made by many partners and don’t want to follow suit.
This is not a lack of ambition: on the contrary, it is a different kind of ambition. The ambition that most of the lawyers I spoke to at the conference was one of being successful at combining their working life with their life outside and, if that meant not being a partner, then so be it.
The sooner law firms realise that this is a growing trend the better. They can begin now to work out different career structures which will allow for those who don’t want partnership but are dedicated to their work. Increasingly, firms are creating a senior associate position giving recognition to their experience both through their title, their pay and their charge out rate but without the financial investment into the partnership and without some of the demands.
However, they will need to go further than this and become increasingly flexible in the ways that they allow their lawyers to work, which will make partnership more appealing. Flexi hours, part-time and working from home would all add to the appeal of what many young lawyers no longer see as appealing.
The next Minority Lawyers Conference will be in 2 years time. For details, contact the Law Society or visit their website.
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