Frustrated Lawyers R Us. Plan ‘B’ Mutiny?
Posted on August 28th, 2010 by Chrissie
‘The sun is out… the sky is blue… there’s not a cloud… to spoil the view… but it’s raining… (doodle doodle doom)… raining in my heart.’
You may recognise the lyrics from a song. I’m referencing it in relation to how all you frustrated lawyers out there may be feeling right now. Whether you’re frustrated as hell about trying to get into the profession, or whether you’re in it and desperately depressed and you want to get the hell out… but feel stuck… this article’s for you. For some of you, it may feel like a tornado is whipping around inside that legal beagle heart of yours.
I’ve just read in the Sunday Times (business section) last weekend that we’re in for a double dip as far as the economy and recession is concerned. And, the double-dip pessimist mongers say that ‘looking forward the wider economic picture is not so bright’.
I’ve also been chatting and meeting with tomorrow’s lawyers and partners in law firms over the past couple of months and law student, associate, senior associate and barrister clients. It’s partly why I’ve been a wee bit quiet on the blog post scene of late – my apologies; some of you may of course be thinking ‘thank God’ – my ‘anonymous’ commentator fan club in particular.
Bottom line… doom and gloom. The feeling is that there will be no boom for many years to come.
I’ve probably made you feel like jumping off the proverbial crumbling ivory tower roof (or equivalent). Jeronimoooooooooo!
But hey, don’t jump. Ever the eternal optimist I reckon there’s still hope. We just have to find the strength and courage to persevere.
For a start, we shouldn’t believe everything we read or hear. So, you can choose to stop reading this article right now if you’re thinking I’m talking a load of blond bimbo utter tosh (or about to).
I believe there is hope because we have choice. We have options.
For example, if you can’t get through the ‘no training contract here for you’ brick wall, are struggling to duck around it by applying for a paralegal and/or legal executive position and having no success there either because law firms are hoarding any cash they have and are reluctant to take on more staff as the global economy faces continued uncertainty, then here’s an idea: go and do something else with your life. For now, at least. While the economy and legal world is struggling and desperately trying to find its feet again and get itself on an even keel.
Reality check – there’s an obvious over supply of law students, an obvious under supply of training contracts available (and/or paralegal positions available) and a pool of highly qualified and skilled ‘give us a job’ lawyers already in the market who were ‘let go’ in 2008/9/10, ever hopeful of reclaiming a rowing position on the good ship legal enterprise.
Taking another path may well mean less risk of racking up debt. After all, there is no guarantee you will make it as a lawyer and have a legal career at the end of it; some things may well be beyond your control. The saving grace is that there’s always the chance you can come to the law later in life (as many lawyers have, successfully).
You may well find (like most people) that you will have more than one career during your working life. There’s a whole range of exciting career paths for an intelligent, hard-working, ambitious young person such as you. Remember, you are one of the top 5% in the world (as an educated budding professional). Even in a recession there are industries and niches doing rather well. Go seek and ye shall find… because it just may turn out that the dream you once believed as being the holy grail might actually turn out to be a paper cup. If you don’t believe me then go and talk to all those frustrated lawyers who remain in the industry and all those who have since left (out of choice).
Whether you’re a paralegal, legal executive, assistant solicitor, associate solicitor, a senior associate, attorney, lawyer, partner or barrister you may well have already reached the point, mindset and realisation which Jim Rohn speaks of:
‘Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.’
Being unhappy in your role/job/career is akin to being unhappy in your marriage. When you’ve reached the point that there’s more ‘bad’ than ‘good’ happening then you have to do something about it (for everyone’s sake).
So, if you want out now because in your case the holy grail you may have once searched for and found has actually turned into a paper cup, then how about these ideas:
1) Become a virtual lawyer – if you’ve got the network, contacts, collaborative relationships, wherewithal, personal marketing skills, personal sales skills… and guts, then go do it; or
2) Be a portfolio worker (be a lawyer and something else at the same time), for example, Tim Kevan: barrister (non-practising at present), the Guardian law blogger, writer, author of Law and Disorder; Marci Alboher: lawyer, journalist, author and writing coach; Denise Nurse: lawyer and weather presenter (Sky News); Shireen Smith: lawyer, marketing & website business owner (sources: Director magazine October 2009 and NatWest Sense magazine 2009). It might continue to rain in your heart as far as your lawyering role is concerned but the sunny joy the other roles bestow might actually be worth the juggling act; or
3) Go start a business – hook up with an entrepreneur who will complement your skills and needs your connections, experience and level head. Together you could be a dynamic duo – the Batman & Robin of the new legal and business dynamic (although I suspect there could be a battle as to who drives the bat-mobile).
4) There are plenty of entrepreneurs desperate to have esteemed professionals on board, who, dare I say it, already have finance lined up – their own or somebody else’s – but need someone of your calibre and ability to add value to the team. I have also read and hear of late that there are also plenty of cash rich entrepreneurs (business angels) who would rather put their money behind a sound new business venture than invest it elsewhere in the present economic climate, as there’s a chance that the yield will provide a much better ROI than sticking it in a bank or dabbling in the plum duck stock markets.
In my experience (as both a lawyer and an entrepreneur) some entrepreneurs have got all the ideas and whizzy gig oomph but no clue as to how to turn it into a viable business and make it work. They need you!
It’s worth remembering that great companies were born out of previous recessions – such as LexisNexis, Microsoft and Dell. And many lawyers whom left the profession have made a great success of their new ventures (and careers).
Take a look at Philip Vecht. He’s made an absolute fortune hanging advertisements in toilets.
Reported as ‘the lawyer who cleaned up with washroom adverts’ in the Sunday Times in January this year, Vecht began his career as a commercial lawyer at Nabarros. After two years he got out of the profession and co-founded Admedia. In Vecht’s own words ‘it was terrifying’. Surprisingly he wasn’t referring to making the leap of faith into his new venture… it was in reference to the toils and challenges of making the business work and if he failed he ‘thought (he) would have to go back to being a lawyer’. Turnover for 2010 is expected to be £7.5m.
I believe the world could probably do with less lawyers lawyering and more lawyers working in and on a business. You never know, this way ahead might actually just help the world get out of this long tail recession. There’s already a plethora of lawyers in the world and a technological, digital, consumer sovereignty trend that will inevitably see the need, want and/or desire for even less.
Problems on the job (or search for a legal job) could lead you to begin a search for something better. But it may well not be the time for impulsive action. Only you will know what’s right for you…where and when.
When all is said and done, if it’s raining in your heart then you could do something about it. You have a choice. You could be master of your own mutiny.
Of course, you will have to conduct a 360 degree personal talent, strengths, skills, knowledge, experience, fiscal, confidence and guts reality check. And an honest one at that. You’d be a fool not to. After all, if you’re going to walk the plank and jump into a stormy sea then you’d better have all the bits ‘n’ bobs in the life raft to ensure your survival. Otherwise, you just might drown!
Do you have a plan B, C or D? I ask because I’ve always lived my life as such that I hope for the best but plan for the worst. ‘It pays to plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark’ (anon).
One final thought. There may well be a market and a viable business model in the concept of ‘Frustrated Lawyers R Us.’
I wonder who of you reading this article will actually act on this idea.
If you do, please do let me know. I’d be delighted to hear about and witness your success first hand. In fact, I’d be honoured to swash-buckle alongside you in your personal mutiny
Tally-ho!
What a box of frogs… traditionalists v modernists:business dilemma for law firms
Posted on June 17th, 2010 by Chrissie
Last week, Chris Roebuck, in his interesting post on making change happen in the Law Society Gazette ‘In Business’ blog, stated that ‘legal firms face probably their toughest challenges for years’.
In previous posts, Alastair Moyes and I also advocated that the legal industry needs to embrace radical change (‘Time for solicitors to reinvent their customer services’ ) and (‘The end of lawyers? Pah!’ ).
You’re probably thinking we’re all stating the blindingly obvious. I agree. But I’d like to run with this a little while longer…
The end of lawyers? Pah! This is the time of the ’super lawyer’.
Posted on May 20th, 2010 by Chrissie
In March, Alastair Moyes stated that ‘law firms need to work hard in the face of commoditised legal providers’. Last month he bravely stuck his neck out and suggested that we, today’s lawyers, need to embrace radical change and reinvent customer service to avoid our industry ‘becoming the nearly dead dinosaur that the US car industry became’.
I reckon Alastair makes two very poignant points. Let’s face it, the 2008-2010 global recession combined with the Legal Services Act 2007 has given us a wake-up call. Throw the enlightened consumer, digital era and recent technological advances into the mix and what have we got? Our traditional way of life under threat.
We can no longer afford to be Luddites because the transformation of how the world of legal business operates is already underway. Competition from consumer-centric major players, ‘DIY free legal documents providers’ via the internet and virtual law firms are already challenging our established engagement model, increasing client confidence, levels of expectation and setting new standards in customer service.
If we consider Professor Richard Susskind’s predictions in relation to the role of lawyers and law firms in the new world of consumer legal services (detailed in his provocative 2008 book The End Of Lawyers?), there is further change on the horizon.
The predictions detailed in Susskind’s 1996 book The Future of Law have already come to fruition. Perhaps we should heed his recent prediction that the market is not going to tolerate costly lawyers for jobs that can equally or better be undertaken by less-expensive workers or through smart systems and processes. Enter ‘de-lawyering’ (passing work to paralegals and legal executives), ‘disruptive’ technologies (computerised systemising, packaging or commoditising), entrepreneurial alternative providers and streamlined law firms.
It’s now 2010. What Susskind wrote about in 2008 we are witnessing. Quoting Neuromancer author William Gibson, whether we like it or not ‘the future is here … it’s just not widely distributed yet’. It begs the question, will traditional lawyers be needed? The answer, you’re no doubt pleased to hear, is that it’s not all doom and gloom.
Susskind believes that some tasks, for example those requiring deep expertise or interpersonal communication, will still require the traditional lawyer. Furthermore, as to whether law firms can survive, he believes that entrepreneurial law firms will not see threats in all of these developments and some will actually find opportunity. I would add that entrepreneurial lawyers recognise this and have already begun to act. You will identify these lawyers as bastions of light blazing a trail in customer service excellence and innovation while doing battle with colleagues who are stuck in their Dickensian ways. Inertia and resistance to change always reminds me of Einstein’s view that ‘great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds’.
I passionately believe that traditional lawyers, entrepreneurial lawyers and the next generation have a wonderful opportunity in this enlightened, consumer-led digital era to become ’super lawyers’.
What do I mean by ’super lawyers’? Let’s propose that the most expensive piece of real estate is what lies between our ears (‘deep expertise’ as Susskind calls it – I call it ‘lawyerly intellectual capital’ (LIC)), and that there is LIC too complex to be commoditised (which there undoubtedly is), requiring interpersonal communication and intrapersonal communication. Accordingly, LIC is where the true value lies. Arguably, what we need to ensure is that we can effectively communicate that LIC is what the consumer needs, wants and desires of us. Enter ‘soft-skilling’ to improve our powers of persuasion, communication, relationship building, marketing, cross-selling, up-selling and selling per se.
If technology can take away as much grunt work as possible and leave the real LIC of value to the super lawyer then that should be something we welcome, right? To survive and thrive in the years to come I propose that a paradigm shift is required in the thinking, behaviour, actions, focus and expectations of both the law firm (partners/owners/directors) and the next generation of lawyers.
As both a lawyer and an entrepreneur (legal purchaser), I believe that the lawyer’s role is not just about being technically proficient in the use of words (drafting and advising) – it’s much more than that. Actually being able to truly relate and care about the client and his/her business and/or predicament is fundamental to what true lawyering and LIC is all about. Extraordinary relationships and customer service will be the holy grail at the heart of the successful super lawyer. Building an enduring value relationship with the consumer, utilising ‘fluffy soft-skills stuff’ combined with a total consumer-centric focus is where the real value will be for the lawyer, law firm and consumer of today and the future.
All of the above may actually just give the legal industry a raison d’etre. I came to the profession in later life (working in a mid-tier established law practice for the past three years) with prior customer service exposure, experience and responsibility having worked in the new media, management consulting and leisure industries. Consequently, I can wholeheartedly agree with Alastair that the legal industry needs to embrace radical change, reinvent customer service and work hard (and smart) in light of the inevitable commoditisation of legal provision. However, I seriously question whether established law firms and ‘traditional lawyers’ are geared up, positioned and truly prepared for the competitive challenges ahead. Are we confident that we already possess the skills required to become super lawyers? If not, the godsend is that with ever-increasing availability and acceptance of the delivery of soft-skill coaching to the profession there is help at hand.
Reinventing customer service will require every lawyer to embrace and action a consumer-centric mindset and behaviour – a paradigm shift in most instances. Scary as this might seem, failure to do the same may well mean that ‘the end of lawyers’ could actually come to pass – for some traditional lawyers. Perhaps the most famous epitaph in the world is the one alleged to be on the tombstone of WC Fields. As an everlasting reflection of the love-hate relationship with his ‘beloved’ hometown Philadelphia, his epitaph reads ‘all things considered, I’d rather be in Philadelphia’.
As I contemplate the threat of our possible extinction, all things considered, I think I’d rather be a super lawyer. Wouldn’t you?
Penny A Brick – Why I became a lawyer
Posted on April 25th, 2010 by Chrissie
Often I have been asked the question ”why did you become a lawyer?” I bet you’ve been asked the same.
So, here’s my story. I’d love to hear yours too …
I hail from the North East of England and a working class family. My father was a chartered accountant by trade but an entrepreneur at heart. A sharp cookie. Frustrated and bored crunching numbers day in and day out he decided to go into the ‘commercial van hire business’ in the ’70s and rode the wave of the Thatcher years.
Being a frugal entrepreneur and having a way with numbers (being an accountant an’ all) he decided that the start-up period required investment in the company which meant selling the family home, ‘tightening our belts’ and living in a caravan whilst we built the next family home.
So, we “upped sticks”, as the North East saying goes, from the town and headed to the countryside.
The new family home was going to be built on a plot of land which at that time had a dilapidated farm house on the very same – a listed building – an old coach & horses residence (aptly named the Bread & Beer House).
Brainwave 1: To save money my father decided that we would ‘carefully’ dismantle the present building and build our dream family home using the salvaged bricks wherever possible.
Brainwave 2: My father needed ‘cheap’ labour. We (my older brother and I) were to be the chippies! You see, when you knock down a building and desire to reuse the bricks you have to chip away the mortar from the brick with a hammer & chisel to ensure a smooth brick for use to be ‘relaid’ with fresh mortar.
Brainwave 3: In order to persuade my brother and I that this was a good idea and worthy of our ‘buy in’ my father said that he would pay us a penny a brick. This was in addition to our ‘pocket-money’ that we received for our usual weekly chores which we were expected to continue to carry out (grass cutting, raking, sweeping, dog management etc).
So, (being our parents children i.e. appreciating the value of the £) my brother and I then spent our entire school summer holidays (6 weeks) chipping bricks from dawn till dusk. As you can imagine we weren’t exactly happy about this arrangement as our friends were having a jolly and we weren’t able to join them. However, with the delightful idea that at the end of the task we would have a small fortune we ‘got on with the job in hand’. It wasn’t without the typical brotherly sisterly fighting and sniping of course as we fought every day for ‘the best hammer’. Tears, tantrums, swearing, the lot (which I am not proud of I hasten to add but all part of the rich tapestry of the growing up process). Yup … we had a great time.
Now, the day arrived when we had chipped our final bricks and my brother and I asked our father for payment due. To which he promptly gave us half the amount we expected.
You see, at the outset my father had said that he would give us a ‘penny a brick’. My brother and I thought this meant that he would pay each of us 1 penny per brick (aka the cost of the labour was actually 2 pence per brick). My father retorted “no, I meant penny a brick between the pair of you” i.e. 1000 bricks = 1000 pennies = £10.00 between you, NOT £20.00 i.e. £10.00 each.
And so it was. For six weeks chipping bricks with all the bruises, calluses, new swear word additions to our vocabularies and lack of childhood fun I earned £5.00 and my brother earned £5.00 instead of our anticipated £10.00 each.
I felt cheated, stupid, dumb, ignorant, dependent, angry, void of knowledge and recourse. It was a defining moment.
I was 6 years old.
To add insult to injury the council promptly slapped a ’stop build’ notice 2 months later due to the listed building wrangle and we ended up living in the caravan for 30 months (instead of the anticipated 6 months). Woo-Bloody-Hoo …
You’re no doubt thinking that there were lots of legal issues amongst this little experience, apart from the human nature element of course.
From this defining and unique episode in my childhood I learned a harsh lesson and vowed NEVER to be so trusting, stupid, ignorant or dependant. I figured I needed to understand and learn about ’the law’ … as well as human nature!
So, when someone asks me why I became a lawyer, perhaps they now understand.
What’s your story? I’d love to hear it. Feel free to share and/or comment here …
In the beginning … calling all lawyers and entrepreneurs
Posted on March 28th, 2010 by Chrissie
Hi there. A huge welcome to you all!
Truly pleased you have taken the time to check out EntrepreneurLawyer’s blog. I do hope you will find something here of interest as the blog develops and you continue to return and get involved!
I am Chrissie Lightfoot – TheEntrepreneurLawyer – Founder and CEO of EntrepreneurLawyer Limited. I am a woman entrepreneur … and a recently newly qualified solicitor / lawyer. A strange mix you may think. I agree.
You may be thinking ‘why EntrepreneurLawyer blog’, ‘why TheEntrepreneurLawyer’ and ‘why EntrepreneurLawyer Limited’? So, I’d like to share something with you (a secret) and I’d like to tell you a story (penny a brick).
The secret …
Perception of an entrepreneur = risk taker, courageous, innovative, primarily right side of brain thinking (creative), unconventional, freedom, dynamic, pro-active/fast, communicative/available, energetic, commercially savvy, smart and thrifty; colour – red/orange/yellow; attitude - the world’s my oyster, I can do anything, let’s give it a go, ‘yes’ it can be done. Reality?
When faced with an entrepreneur as a client/customer the lawyer may be thinking ‘Eek, what planet is this nutter on? He’s obviously off his trolley. This is complicated and he doesn’t understand or appreciate what’s entailed. How am I supposed to tell him that he just can’t do that? It can’t be done in that timeframe and it can’t be done for that kind of money. I wish he’d stop changing his mind. Just trust me, I’m a lawyer.’ Reality?
Perception of a lawyer = risk averse, reserved, status-quo, primarily left side of brain (logic), traditional, regulated, re-active/slow (takes an age to do anything), uncommunicative/unavailable, commercial nous challenged due to restrictive environment/structure/experience, intelligent and expensive; colour – grey; attitude – the oyster’s my world, I’m a lawyer (period), I’ll stick with what I know thank you. Reality?
When faced with a lawyer providing legal advice and services the entrepreneur may be thinking ‘OMG, this is going to cost me an arm and a leg. He just doesn’t get where I’m coming from. I came here for a solution and now I’ve just got more problems (expensive ones at that)! Will he ever get off the goddam fence and give me a straight answer?! Lawyers – they’re all the same, expensive and arrogant.’ Reality?
The problem …
Major clash. And …
The trend – we live in a fast moving, constantly changing digital world where the numbers of self-employed, micro businesses and entrepreneurs are increasing year on year. As far back as 1982 philosopher and management guru Charles Handy predicted that in the 21st century more than 50 per cent of all jobs would be conducted on a part-time, freelance or self-employed basis. He was right.
However, entrepreneurs and lawyers are invariably at opposite ends of the spectrum on many counts. Clearly there appears to be a lack of understanding between entrepreneurs and lawyers in the kind of legal provision and service an entrepreneur expects and what the lawyer is able (or willing) to deliver.
And herein lies the opportunity. There is an obvious need to improve understanding between entrepreneurs and lawyers so that BOTH parties are happy with the outcome – improved cost effective and time effective legal provision which creates value for both the entrepreneur and the lawyer.
There are lawyers and entrepreneurs in abundance … but there are few entrepreneur lawyers and entrepreneurial lawyers.
The solution …
Arguably, for a lawyer (and a law firm) to be able to provide truly outstanding legal advice and bespoke customer solution services for an entrepreneur (s)he needs to be technically good ‘at the law’ (i.e. solid legal knowledge, skills and experience) AND must truly understand the entrepreneur i.e. (s)he must be able to ’stand in the shoes’ (in mind if not in body) of the entrepreneur. EntrepreneurLawyer Limited (“EntrepreneurLawyer”) was founded for this reason.
By having experienced 3 start-up companies to date (as owner manager, co-founder, founder) and experienced being a lawyer serving entrepreneurs after studying the law and training as a solicitor in a mid-tier law firm for the past five years (now a qualified solicitor (non-practising)) I know and understand what an entrepreneur thinks, feels and wants. I also know and understand what a lawyer thinks, feels and wants. I can wear two hats and I can wear two pairs of shoes. I’ve commissioned lawyers as an entrepreneur and I’ve advised entrepreneurs as a lawyer. Accordingly, EntrepreneurLawyer bridges the gap between the business world and the legal world providing services for both entrepreneurs and lawyers with the vision to create a movement to reduce the gap. Feel free to check out what EntrepreneurLawyer is all about to see how I (together with the experts) may be able to help you help yourself!
Your opportunity …
EntrepreneurLawyer’s blog is THE SPACE for you (entrepreneurs and lawyers) to come together and understand each other better so that lawyers are better able to provide the kind and level of services that entrepreneurs need, want, expect and demand and entrepreneurs are better able to understand and appreciate what is (and is not) possible from a lawyer. If the gap is to be reduced, we have to start somewhere … so it might as well be here. And you know how the saying goes – “there’s no time like the present”!
I encourage you all to share your knowledge, experience, information, news, thoughts and issues etc. (except confidential of course!) so that (arguably) the present Dickensian style legal structures and services are innovated and elevated to a level befitting for the ever increasing number of maverick 21st century entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs, buisness start-up owners, self-employed people, owner managers, micro business owners, CEO’s etc. - tell the lawyers what you need, want and expect.
Lawyers, solicitors, attorneys, trainees, law students etc. - listen, hear and act on what the entrepreneurs share with you. It’s in your interest. Believe me. If you want their business now and in the future you’d better be prepared to get out of your rocking chair and strap a pair of roller blades on!
It’s time … this is your blog. Make it count … feel free to post comments and suggest topics for discussion.
Warmest regards … and welcome again !!!!!!!!!
The Entrepreneur Lawyer
The story: Penny A Brick – post 2 coming soon …
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