How Stepping Beyond My Formal Role Shaped My Career

In 1993 when I qualified as a solicitor the career that lay ahead of me was simple and straightforward. I was lucky enough to qualify with a great old firm (Slater Heelis) and then to move to a fantastic firm with big ambition (Hill Dickinson), followed by a dynamic personal injury firm (Silverbeck Rymer). 

I had made it to salaried partner and thought I was set. Work hard, build happy client base and progress to equity. That’s just what always happened. 

But… 

The insurance and personal injury sector in the late 1990s were about to undergo a seismic shift. I’ve always felt it was most likely because the insurers realised the fastest way for them to save money was not on plaintiff (claimant) damages, nor on plaintiff’s legal fees. 

It was on their own (defendant) legal fees. 

A salaried partner was about the worst position to be in. Expensive. The job could be done by someone more junior really. 

I decided I needed to find a different way of earning. 

By this time, almost by osmosis, I’d started to develop transferable skills- BD, Teamwork, Process management, Networking. In the early 2000s myself and a colleague founded a recruitment business, building on the network of connections, and developing management, leadership and some tech skills. 

The recession in 2008 took me in another direction and I moved to a huge global IT business – helping them to design a strategy to break into the legal sector and then delivering sales and BD for them. My networking, presentation and strategic relationship skills grew. I gained world class insight into issues around process optimisation and cyber threats which I was then able to bring into my legal sector engagements. 

I’d travelled a long way from my original role as a solicitor, and I had gathered skills that weren’t in any way part of my ‘formal’ career as a lawyer- networking, strategic thinking, karma marketing, process, tech, conference presentation. 

When the opportunity to join Cashroom arose 13 years ago, I found I had (like Liam Neeson) a unique set of skills, and ones which fitted wonderfully with my new role. 

So what’s the lesson here? 

I suppose it’s that the skills lawyers develop can be powerful- they include analytical thinking, professionalism, discipline. Those skills are valuable and continue to have relevance every day for me. The skills I’ve developed outside the law firms are now an augmentation to that base layer, and from what I see in the market, many of those attributes remain worthwhile whether you’re a lawyer or a supplier. 

So, the message for lawyers and indeed anyone within the legal sector- be bold, be inquisitive and learn new skills. It’s exciting, and it can take you to some wonderful and unforeseen places.