Company & commercial

Commercial lawyers operate at the nexus where law meets business, facilitating revenue growth and managing risk. Their scope of work tends to be broad, working across a number of industries from sport to retail to banking. They work on a variety of contracts that range from logistics contracts, sponsorship agreements to technology contracts. It’s a truly varied practice area.

From being a bursary recipient at the Manchester Grammar School and being the first person of his immediate family to go to university, Ryan Doodson read law at the University of Leeds before undertaking the Legal Practice Course at BPP University, funded by Walker Morris LLP. On his current role, “one of the aspects I most enjoy about being a solicitor is the opportunity to be entrepreneurial”, which is something that Walker Morris actively encourages, explains Ryan Doodson, senior associate. He loves employing his experiences of working with successful businesses and applying some of their ways of working in growing his own practice in the commercial and technology space.

Life as a commercial lawyer

Ryan explains that the day to day of a commercial lawyer can be broadly summarised as “risk mitigation balanced against a client’s need for revenue generation”. He highlights: “You’re not there to be a blocker to a deal, which I think some clients often fear.” Instead, it’s all about building a close relationship with your client and enabling them to achieve their goals through offering strategic and long-term advice. When reflecting on previous deals, one highlight was “advising one of our major telecoms clients on the maintenance of the nation's 4G infrastructure”. He emphasises that close client contact “gives you the ability to understand a business, its risk profile, its ways of working and its ethos”. During the deal, he also really enjoyed “working to achieve a wider aim with a large team”. Since joining Walker Morris around seven years ago, Ryan has undertaken four client secondments, which he says were vital in being able to fully appreciate client demands and commercial aims. Interestingly, every member of the commercial and technology team at Walker Morris has undertaken at least one client secondment.

In fact, the prospect of working in a team is what initially drew Ryan to the role of a solicitor over a barrister, where “a lot of the work can be solitary”. Throughout his legal career, he’s always loved working closely with others, “whether that’s with your client to achieve a goal or as part of a team here at Walker Morris”. However, over time, as he’s become more senior, the level of responsibility has grown and he’s been trusted to handle negotiations and take the lead on major deals. He notes that his day-to-day work is very rewarding, although when asked about the elements of the job he enjoys less, he says that “there are some administrative tasks, such as time recording, that are necessary but not particularly enjoyable”!

Looking to the future

As part of his day-to-day routine, Ryan stays up to date on updates in this rapidly evolving practice area. For one, he says: “There’s been a lot of talk about the impact and advancements of AI. We’re seeing a lot of clients talking about it and being curious about how they should be harnessing this technology and the related data.” Some people appear to be apprehensive about the new technology, Ryan explains, noting speculation in the press about “AI’s ability to take lawyers' jobs”. However, Ryan believes that “AI offers a really brilliant opportunity, for businesses and law firms alike”. In the future, he thinks there’ll be more of a focus on how these technologies can be harnessed. “Walker Morris is always looking at how technology can be used to generate efficiencies in order that we can make our offerings more efficient and competitive. This will change as the years go on because, as AI gets more accurate, there’s going to be an increased amount of use cases.”

As AI develops, it’s likely that there’ll be more work in this area along with an increasing number of aspiring technology lawyers. If a career in commercial and technology law sounds appealing to you, there are three key skills Ryan believes are crucial. Firstly, he underlines the importance of “attention to detail” – commercial lawyers deal with what are often complicated, detail heavy contracts and the 'devil is in the detail'. He also adds: “commerciality is very important because we work so closely with businesses. This means that we try to align in terms of the aims so we can facilitate a client's deal instead of hindering it.” Ryan also advises that, during a vacation scheme, training contract and beyond, you need to be confident enough to ask questions. “If you have a question, don’t be afraid to ask" because other people on a call or in the meeting often haven’t considered it or may not know the answer. He adds that “this sounds obvious but it’s a crucial skill”.

From asking questions to investigating commercial issues, Ryan picks out curiosity as an essential element for success. He advises aspiring lawyers to “take an interest in the political and economic climate, and think about how changes might affect businesses day to day”. He adds that as the socio-political climate constantly shifts and technology advances, success as a commercial lawyer hinges on the ability to “put yourself in the shoes of businesses” and really think about how to best exploit or mitigate those circumstances.