Six lessons in commercial law firm life from a former City law firm managing partner

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I was in your position once, and it’s daunting. I didn’t have a clue what a law firm career would be like or whether I’d be suited to it or it to me. I didn’t realise that what I’d learned in my law degree, at law school or even training at a law firm wouldn’t equip me with some of the skills that mattered most to surviving and thriving in such a complex, opaque and demanding world.

A lot has been written about how to get into the legal profession. But how do you make a success of it once you’re qualified? Having been at the heart of the commercial law firm world for more than 30 years, including 10 as a managing partner, here are six key things about building a commercial law firm career I wish I’d known when I was a law student.

1) Play the game

Every firm is different, but all commercial law firms are part of a system with reasonably common rules. So, there are no shortcuts – understand how the system works, stick to the fundamentals and navigate your way carefully. It’s not for everyone so if it transpires the system doesn’t suit you or you it, find a system that does – there are many other great legal career options outside commercial law firms, including in-house.

2) Fit in professionally but give it time to work

We’re products of our choices. Engineer a hierarchy of great choices to fit in professionally – your natural fit with the right role, your business fit with the right team and firm and your interpersonal fit with colleagues and clients. But give those choices time to work, relationships time to build and opportunities time to appear.

3) Take career control

You might be lucky and be championed by great role models who invest in you and your career. Most aren’t so lucky. Don’t rely on anyone else and don’t drift. Take the initiative –  find a great mentor in your chosen field and tuck in behind them.

4) Play to your strengths and do what makes you happy

Make sure you have the drive to last the course as well as the willingness to go out of your comfort zone and build the skills to sustain a long law firm career. Make sure you also find a role that balances growing levels of challenge with your growing skill levels – life’s too short to spend an undue amount of your career either bored or anxious. Monitoring and managing your mental health (and looking out for the mental health of your colleagues) is a crucial part of becoming and remaining a successful commercial lawyer.

5) People, relationship and leadership skills matter most

The primary challenge is to get bought internally and to prove to the internal market that you’re a safe and reliable custodian of their work. If, and only if, that hurdle has been crossed can you move on to the secondary challenge and seek to convince the external client market similarly. Legal and commercial ability are sometimes a differentiator, but rarely. Beyond the threshold legal and commercial skills, what stands out most are the emotional and personal human qualities required to deliver great client service and be a good colleague. This requires you to not only be able to understand and manage yourself, but also to understand and connect with others. It’s this unusual combination of technical and people skills that’ll dictate the quality of your internal and external relationships and, ultimately, the success of your law firm career. This has always been the case but will be magnified further as the use of AI becomes more popular.

6) Stay in the game

A law firm career is a marathon, not a sprint. Never stop growing and learning, stay relevant and keep match fit – in particular, master AI and the use of tech; this will be a crucial differentiator for younger lawyers going forward as the shape of the role changes significantly. Enjoy the work and look after your clients and people. Be patient, ride out the knocks and build a score relentlessly and methodically. Stay in the game over the long term and you’ll naturally accumulate internal and external market share as others move on.

Jonathan Watmough is the author of the new book How To Thrive In A Commercial Law Firm − the definitive, authentic and authoritative inside track on, not just what it takes to make it in a commercial law firm, but how to thrive along the way.

It’s a limited print run and is only available to buy direct at www.helpinglawyersthrive.com.

LCN readers can buy the book before the end of June 2024 at only £14.39 plus postage and packaging (a 20% discount) by quoting the promo code LCN24 at checkout.