Blog

  • Never work with children, animals or the general public!

    Obviously if you want to avoid contact with the general public, working the legal sector, especially in private client, is certainly not the way to go. Usually, every day you will be contacted by someone, usually your client, looking an update, advice or generally to query this that or the other.

    I have slowly learning three important things to remember before taking a phone call, or even responding to an email from a client. Those being:-

    1. Take a deep breath, clear your mind, prepare to listen;
    2. Do not rush to give any advice, or react – take time, think, choose your words and if necessary delay any response in favour of getting as much information as you can;
    3. Set your own personal feelings, thoughts or reactions aside – take a step back and step outside the situation.

    All too often I have been guilty of trying to give advice too quickly, too soon and without thinking it through. Often leading to the client being confused, me being confused or just getting it wrong.

    I think the best advice I can ever give when working in private client law is to take it slow, don’t rush and don’t feel pressured to make snap decisions. Think it through and work it out. Write everything down and make notes. Believe it or not, you need to remember so much at any given time, you tend to forget information that is longer than a few hours old. I never anticipated how much I would need to remember at any given time and how often clients expect you to remember what they said to you a few days or even a few weeks ago. Often I hear the phrase, “do you remember when I said…?” More often than not the answer is, “no I have no idea…”

  • Get Up, Dust Off, Move On!

    Wise words that I was told by my mentor during a particularly difficult time when I felt I could do nothing right in my job. I am probably my own worst critic, and I am told that I am unnecessarily hard on myself, especially when I make mistakes. I dwell on them, stew in them, overthink them, go over them for days in my head asking myself questions such as, 

    “Where did it start to go wrong?”

    “Could I have done something different?”

    “What could I have said differently?”

    “Did I not express myself correctly?”

    “Did I not use the correct legal terminology?”

    And around and around it goes in my head, torturing myself over something that I cannot change as it is done!  

    I was particularly down and must have seemed low one day, as my mentor asked me how I was doing. I didn’t hold back in telling him what was happening, and he just came out and said it. “You are going to make mistakes; you are just starting out so you will make a few as you learn and gain experience. What you do is, you get up, you dust yourself off, make a note of what happened whether mental, phone or paper, and you move forward from it. Don’t hang yourself over it but don’t ignore or hide it. Address it, move on!”

    Wise words and although I am still trying to implement that advice, I do not think I am as bad as I once was. I will still ponder on it for at least a few days, but yes, I soon move on from it. The words from some song come to mind – “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!” You know something, in some limited way, the phrase is probably correct. I am getting stronger and wiser as I learn from my mistakes and move on to become a better solicitor. 

    Hopefully someday, I will be wise enough to pass the knowledge on to others. For now, baby steps. But the one main thing I did take away, is that you should admit your mistakes, talk about them, take advice from others, try to correct them and if they can’t be fixed, limit the damage, and learn.

    I feel fortunate to have at least one person in the firm that I can go to and talk to and seek help when I need it. Find that one person and you will be OK!

  • Lets start from the Beginning!

    Part 1 – From then to now…

    It all started in 2003 – well that is when I got my law degree anyway! I can’t say that I worked super hard to get it – I did what I needed to do and got what I needed. As soon as I had graduated, I got a job as a Paralegal/Legal Executive in a city firm which I hated. There was so much competition that the relationship and environment between paralegals was toxic. Everyone trying to get one up on each other, stepping over one another and being ruthless to make themselves noticed by the Partners for when the time came that the application and interview process opened for Training Contracts. It put a very bitter taste in my mouth and I decided not to pursue it. I did not want to be that “cut throat” and lower myself to the level some had dropped too. Perhaps this all would have been different if I had had contacts in the Legal World and knew somebody who could have taken me on to mentor me. The problem was, that I was inexperienced, naïve and just didn’t have a clue!

    I left the legal world, and did other things, lived in other countries and tried new areas of work. I grew both professionally and mentally and after some time, it was my wife who encouraged me to go back into the legal world. I did. It was a rough 3/4 years in a firm that was as ruthless as the former paralegals I had escaped from! Perhaps worse! I stuck it, I did not sacrifice my own morals and did things right and proper. It was noticed a number of occasions, and I was not penalised for it. In fact, as time went on, I progressed through the firm, becoming quite high up. It was then that I decided to start my training contract and finish my practical training and qualify.

    After two years of working full time, a COVID pandemic and some bumps along the way, I qualified as a solicitor. One of the biggest reliefs and proudest moments of my life besides the usuals of marriage, children etc. etc.

    So that is a very quick overview of the then and brings us to now! I am a practicing solicitor in the area of Residential Conveyancing, Private Client and Civil Litigation. Quite a varied range of areas, each with their own joys, pains and challenges!

    The question is – what is the aim of this blog? I have read that it is a good way of decompressing! Writing about elements of your life in written form and thinking through it as you write can be therapeutic – so I am told. Perhaps I will see. Of course the big thing is that it is in a public forum – a danger, perhaps a risk! I don’t know. Time will tell. Maybe it will help others who read this who can learn from my mistakes, laugh with me at some of the situations I get myself into and who knows – see where it goes.

    Until next time…