This Christmas make a conscious choice

Definition (n.) well considered decision; a choice made after much thought; not by accident.

With the silly season upon us and a holiday break looming what better time to think about your career direction and where you are going?

This month: Are you making conscious career choices?

We have discussions with legal professionals on a daily basis encouraging them to think about their career path and what their ultimate goal might be.  After all if you don’t know where you are going how will you know if you are getting there?

By establishing your career goals you can then measure your current role and new opportunities against them to see if they help or hinder that cause.  Do your current firm’s plans for you help you along your path? Looking at other options in the market is only ever going to provide you with more information.  Once you have that information you can measure these options against your plans for your career and determine whether they will more easily or quickly help you hit your career goals.

You could make a conscious choice to commute to London for more money or a higher quality of work but you must bear in mind that with that will come increased pressure and longer hours.  That is a conscious choice.  An unconscious choice would be to take a role in London thinking that the commute won’t have an impact on your day to day life because other people do it all the time!

Our best advice is always to make sure your choice is a conscious one not an unconscious act of ‘going with the flow’.  You could end up a long way down a path that you never meant to start down!  You might explore the market and make a conscious decision to remain in your current role and that is fine too!

What ever you do this December make sure that the choices you make are conscious choices not simply the path of least resistance.  However if your decision is to have both the mince pie and the Christmas cake then be conscious that the new year will inevitably involve a diet!

It is law fair season and we try to be present at the local universities to meet the law students.  They are all looking for advice and encouragement, wondering which area of law to get into or what career route to take.

Keep your inner critic in check

For my careers talks I had asked solicitors what advice they would give to junior lawyers. Top answers have been ‘It’s not all about the money’, ‘Go with your gut, always’, ‘Think about the future possibilities in your career path but don’t feel you have to make all the decisions right away’.

I always say to people that whilst it feels like a long road and a struggle to get to qualification that is only the start of it.  Upon qualification you don’t suddenly know everything you need to know, as a lawyer you are simply at the starting point of your legal career.  So, don’t be too hard on yourself and don’t expect others to view you as the finished article, they won’t!  You have earnt the right to be there and just like everyone else you are still learning.

One suggested method of silencing your inner critic is to picture yourself as a child and then picture your inner critic saying the things that go around in your head to that child.  It feels uncomfortable!  So don’t let your inner critic boss you around now that you are an adult!  All legal professionals, and perhaps all people can always benefit from advice given in a constructive and positive manner.  No matter how far you go in your career there is always more to learn so enjoy the journey and don’t get distracted by that inner critic!

Whilst we are not there yet, the end of the year is approaching. So you might like to know what areas of law have been popular for opportunities this year and which ones have not.

What does the market look like over the last 12 months?

Looking at the market some things have been relatively steady. Commercial and residential property together take up just over a quarter of all roles and commercial property on its own is now the largest. However looking back to 2015 commercial property alone took up 21% of the market with residential taking it up to 36% of the whole market share.

Private client has come down from nearly 20% of the market in 2015 to 11% in the last year. The quietest year since 2015 for the area.

Corporate/ company commercial, employment and family remain steady year on year. As does the risk and compliance category – which did not even have presence as a category in 2015!.

Demand for construction lawyers has more than doubled in the last year. Which we have been acutely aware of as firms across the region and into London are looking for that highly sought after specialism on both contentious and non-contentious sides of the work.

Litigation is also on the rise taking up 16% of the market, 20% if you include PI and clinical negligence within that. Property and commercial litigation demanding their own categories as those specialised roles continue to come through.

Always happy to discuss any area of law in the region and we are expanding our geography out to include Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire along with some London roles too so please do get in touch if you want to discuss your career options moving forward.

This month: Planning the rest of your year

• Succinct yet show your full skills and experience
• Honest but only highlight your positive
• Your personal marketing document

IPSWICH 17th October 2019 (YATES) CHELMSFORD 30th October 2019 (CAFE ROUGE) NORWICH 6th November 2019 (BILLS) CAMBRIDGE 13th November 2019 (CASTLE BAR)  

After much planning we are thrilled to finally announce dates for a series of FREE performance enhancing and well-being workshops that we are hosting across East Anglia in collaboration with Vikki Pratley of Skylark. 

After many years as a practising employment lawyer and a founding partner of a successful law firm, Vikki suffered from burnout; recently recognised by the World Health Organisation as being caused by chronic workplace stress that is not successfully managed. Vikki was inspired to help others to be high performers without risking burnout so retrained as a coach and licenced practitioner and founded her business, Skylark. 

Vikki now works with professionals, through speaking at events or on a one-to-one or group basis, to help them successfully manage workplace stress and create sustainable high performing environments. Vikki has a holistic approach to her work, always starting with the individual before equipping them with a tool-kit for success including a mindset, key skills and, for leaders, a process. 

This month: Lawyers; Be More Awesome! How to increase your performance whilst reducing your stress.

Have you noticed that some people become very successful very quickly yet still have time to have a life outside work? 

Would you believe it if we told you they have equipped themselves with self-directing skills, that are totally learn-able?

Well it’s true! Taking responsible initiative for your career is the first step to Being More Awesome! But by adding into the mixture key skills they don’t teach at law school, you can take your performance to the next level without increasing your hours.

In these interactive sessions, we will explore this fundamental attitude of ‘Responsible Initiative’ whilst practicing some of the 7 Key Skills of highly successful people. 

The self-directing skills for life we will introduce you to within this 90-minute session will include: 

✾Negotiating for success; influence and negotiate better than you’ve ever done before (and for yourself, not just your clients!)

✾Controlling your own workload; learn how to manage your stress levels and your manager!

✾Managing your own career; you will leave the session with your own powerful career plan for success. 
Please select a date and location that best suits you by clicking on the links below and book your FREE place now – book now as spaces are limited! Spread the word and feel free to bring a colleague or contact but please do sign them up below too!

IPSWICH 17th October 2019 (YATES)      
CHELMSFORD 30th October 2019 (CAFE ROUGE)
NORWICH 6th November 2019 (BILLS)   
CAMBRIDGE 13th November 2019 (CASTLE BAR)