Former Associate at Top Firm Thrives as a Sole Practitioner
In the first in a series of interviews I’ll be doing with lawyers who have engineered careers that work for them, I had the opportunity to speak with a lawyer who left a top global law firm to start up a thriving solo practice.
Over the course of our conversation, this lawyer stressed the importance of persistence, humility, community and resourcefulness. We also discussed the prevalence of imposter syndrome in large law firms, and how he managed to turn that on its head to reassure himself that the odds of success were in his favour.
How did you end up starting up your own practice?
After numerous meetings with firms about joining at senior levels, none of which excited me, I came to realise that if I wanted a unique position in the market, I would have to create it myself.
How did you start attracting your own clients?
I’m not necessarily the extrovert who you would actually associate with the kind of networking that we all tend to think about. From early on in my career, when I started going to events and meeting with people, I would not have 100 conversations—I would just have two or three meaningful conversations. Many of these led to useful connections. Eventually, some of these contacts, and some clients at my former firm, started to reach out to me and say ‘well maybe you could help with this’. That gave me a lot of confidence that it’s not necessarily as hard as it looks; that you don’t need the big name of the firm behind you to attract work.
How does your typical work day or work week differ now from when you were at the firm?
I work about a fifth of the time, but I earn as much if not more. So it’s not unusual for me to actually do billable work two hours a day.
How is it you manage to do that?
In terms of compensation, as a solo practitioner, I am able to run a much leaner practice, and I don’t have to worry about the law firm structure, whose compensation structure is obviously heavily slanted in favour of senior partners.
I am able to work much more efficiently because I am in control of my own schedule and can plan my work according to when my output will be greatest. After reading an inspiring interview with Gary Shteyngart, I focus my writing work in a block of time, typically in the morning. I think that having focused writing time and a flexible schedule enriches the work product; taking some distance allows me to reflect a little bit more about what I’m working on. I notice that ideas often feel less forced once I take a break from them and come back to them later.
What about administrative work?
People warned me about that, but that has been the least of my concerns. Some people in similar positions to me have hired virtual PAs. I haven’t done that—although I did hire an accountant. All of these services that we think are critical to our work exist now in delocalised formats, so the PA service, the post service, accounting, billing, all of this exists and you just have to find the right suppliers and pull it together.
What have been the biggest surprises for you?
It was not that hard to convince people of my credibility as an offering. I expected that to be much harder. Rather than being motivated by brand names, most clients rely heavily on relationships, their knowledge of the specific people involved, and cost.
Many people struggle with imposter syndrome, and this is what keeps many people wedded to big structures like prestigious law firms even if it is not a great fit for them. What advice do you have for people who struggle with this?
When we acknowledge the imposter syndrome in ourselves, we have to see it in the round: if other people are able to succeed, then why not you? There are plenty of successful lawyers who are smarter than me, and I have a lot of respect for them. But there are plenty who are not, and who manage to be successful in spite of themselves.
What allows you to be successful?
Collaboration. People reach out to me for free advice from time to time, which I’m happy to give. The converse is also true. I find that people are happy to have lots of conversations, considering pitching together for things and joining together in ad hoc teams. There is a huge network of people from my former law firm that do this sort of thing, so that is a really useful tool as well. I am happy to admit that I don’t know something, because it means I can talk to somebody smarter who does know, and that’s fantastic for me—I have no hangups about that at all.
What concerns did you have when making the move that you later realised were unfounded?
I think I was most concerned with how I would be seen by others in my field; whether I would be viewed as a failure for having attained a certain status in the firm world but then doing my own thing. I’ve learned that very few people care.
What other skills have allowed you to be successful on your own?
Resilience is probably the key one. I’ve encountered times where I haven’t succeeded. And I’ve had to develop mechanisms to deal with that and find alternative approaches. Being an expat, and moving from one jurisdiction to another, meant that I had to develop my own solutions to many problems. But it doesn’t always work, and so the resilience point is to keep trying, to find another way, or to determine maybe that that isn’t going to work and to do something else entirely. That is a skill that I think sets me apart from others.
What advice do you have for people who are currently at big law firms and thinking about a change but aren’t sure what to do?
If you want to make a move, figure out what is important. If you are unhappy where you are working and thinking about moving somewhere else, it is important to consider what that move would actually change. You might change the name of your employer and the individuals around you; but it may be that the thing that doesn’t suit you is the actual structure, rather than the nature of the work. Understand and remember what it is you are trying to achieve so that you aren’t tempted by the first offer that comes your way—which might give you a short-lived honeymoon period followed by the realisation that you’re basically in the same situation again.
If you could turn back the clock and give yourself advice as a mid-level associate, what advice would you give yourself?
Focus on the relationships with the people you’re working with. Make that connection with the clients. Regardless of whether you want to stay within a big firm or go your own way in the long term, building relationships, especially at the more junior end of the client, is going to stand you in good stead. You want to get to know the more junior people at the client because in ten years’ time, that’s going to be the person who is instructing you.
Jon wants to hear from you
Are you currently reflecting on how to gain more satisfaction from your career? Or are you a fulfilled lawyer who would like to share anonymously your story with others who are struggling to find their own way?