With so much competition in the legal market, it can be tricky to get ahead.

The question is how do you differentiate yourself? How do you prepare yourself for opportunities when they come your way?

How do you proactively create your own opportunities? How do position yourself to bag that next promotion?

Perhaps most importantly, how do you strive to move forward whilst also taking good care of your mental health and wellbeing?

This month: How to get ahead in your legal career

On Thursday 6th October we are hosting a lunchtime webinar with Helen Pamely, Career Coach, will be discussing how to get ahead in your legal career – and fast!Helen started her career at Linklaters and at just 6 years qualified, was promoted to Partner in Dispute Resolution at City of London law firm Rosling King. With a passion for mental health and wellbeing, and a desire to understand how we can optimise these to reach our potential and perform at our best, Helen retrained as both a psychotherapist and a coach. Helen now helps other lawyers to thrive in their careers, reach the top, and become the best and happiest versions of themselves.

As a former lawyer, having trained and qualified at the Magic Circle, and having made Partner at a top City law firm at just 6 years qualified, Helen knows what it takes to get to the top, and quickly.

In this lunchtime webinar, you’ll learn how to:

• stand out from the crowd and build your personal brand,

• plan ahead and seize and create new opportunities,

• build relationships and network effectively,

• create a mindset for success, and

• take care of your wellbeing in the process, and thrive as a result.

You can book now via Eventbrite.

This is a question that we are frequently asked. As with many things, the answer can be complex but the short answer is… yes!Both solicitors and legal executives have the opportunity to move between areas, sometimes prompted by market changes, such as in 2009 onwards when the property market plummeted following the financial crash. Sometimes this can simply be prompted by personal, life decisions or events. Right now we are talking to lots of people who have taken time to think about their career and their life plan and have made, or are looking to make, changes in light of the pandemic.

This month: What areas of law are the easiest to move between?

We always advise people to think about those areas with similar clients. If you are used to dealing with individuals going through a divorce then you could be well placed to tweak your bedside manner and your knowledge base and move into private client work helping those same individuals write a will or handle a probate. You already know that you can build rapport with individuals and that they respond well to your advice in times of personal crisis.

Likewise, if you are helping businesses to handle their day to day commercial needs then it is not too far of a jump to move into helping them with their commercial property needs too. Your skills in understanding how businesses work will be invaluable. The fact that you need to learn the associated law can be done behind the scenes away from the client and with reference to the right training, mentoring or guidance.

Similarly, if you are wanting to go into an inhouse role, having commercial experience will stand you in good stead. All that said then if you are looking to move away from the clients that you currently have then it will be about being open to revising the way you handle clients.

It is not possible to know everything about even one area of law as each client’s circumstances are unique and no doubt within your current area of law you still refer back to legal resources in some circumstances. Equally I am sure that you don’t sit in front of every client and tell them the exact answer to their problem the moment they present it to you! You go away and think and research and then get back to them; the point is, you know how to use legal resources and apply the law. That’s a key foundational skill that you possess, which can take years to develop. With that foundation, you can learn new technical law to layer onto it.

When moving into a new area of law don’t forget to look out for resources online and legal groups, these might be:• Online groups – see LinkedIn, Twitter etc• Real life events – focused networking or interest groups• A mentor within your own firm or another legal contact

How to identify your existing transferable skills.

Take 2 minutes to write down a couple of key words that your line manager would use to describe you. (think about words that arise frequently in your appraisals or in how your line manager might introduce you to clients or new colleagues). Then write down a couple of words that your family or friends would use to describe you (how would your mum, dad, brother, sister or partner describe you to others – those complimentary words of course as we want to be positive here!). And finally a couple of words that your colleagues would use to describe you (how are you referred to in the office on a day to day basis? Again all positive of course!). Within those words are probably the answers to your transferable skills!

You just need to extract and reframe those skills. Think now about how each word could be referred to and used as a skill.

For example:If you enjoy talking or you talk a lot then think around your communication skills, do you use your skills in explaining complex problems to clients? Does your ability and ease in talking help you to form relationships quickly or put people at ease? Are you persuasive? Can you easily form a point of view and argue it?

Alternatively if you like everything to be just right, a bit of a perfectionist, then you might enjoy focusing on the details of a problem, you might show great attention to detail, probably have good precision and accuracy in the work that you do.

This is a really quick and easy way to focus your CV on your transferable skills. It is absolutely something that we can help you with too!

So give it a go, the answers might surprise you!

If you are wondering whether private client might be a good area to move into then we are running a discussion session with Gill Steele this month. You can book here and benefit from talking to her as a senior professional who is very happy to answer questions, and there are no ‘silly questions’! So come along and just ask.

Breaking down why and how imposter syndrome shows up together with immediately implementable tools to start your shift.

Our forthcoming online event…

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome: a Toolkit for Lawyers

Feeling like you don’t fit in and are going to get ‘found out’?

That your successes aren’t actually your own but all your mistakes most definitely are?

Feeling the need to overwork, overperform to prove yourself are all symptoms of the dreaded imposter syndrome, something more than 80% of junior lawyers say that they have experienced. If you thought it would get better with time, experience, expertise or certification you might be in for a rude awakening, so what can we do to understand and combat the dreaded feelings?

On 16th June join Leah Steele and Clara Rose Consultancy for a one hour online workshop Overcoming Imposter Syndrome: a Toolkit for Lawyers where we will break down why and how imposter syndrome shows up together with immediately implementable tools to start your shift.

Leah Steele is a coach, mentor and training who founded Searching for Serenity. An ex-lawyer who experienced her own issues with imposter syndrome and burnout, she works with individuals and law firms to help identify, manage and reverse these issues for more sustainable, resilient and yes, profitable careers that don’t come at the expense of our lives.

Book via Eventbrite
16th June 2022 13:00-14:00

With Spring very much in the air and the prospect of a summer relatively free of pandemic interruptions (fingers crossed) there are many things to be positive about. However, if you are not feeling that positivity with your current role as much as you would like to then perhaps you need to take some time out to think…

What to do when your working life gets overwhelming?

1. Remember why you started.
   Was it to help people? (sounds cheesy but it is most often what people say to me), Was it to challenge yourself? Or perhaps just a love of the intricacies of the law or the machinations of business?
2. Talk to people in your network.
   Whether this is colleagues in the same boat or legal professionals in other firms facing the same challenges as you; others will be, or will have gone through similar circumstances. Social media can be a great way to ‘talk’ to people about their working lives and being understood by others helps to lighten the load that can feel like a weight on your shoulders alone.
3. Get professional advice.
   Depending on the problem this might range from a life coach or therapist, to a career consultant like us. There are people out there who can help you work through your thoughts on your career and current position to identify what it is that you want to keep doing and perhaps what bits of a role you might want to drop (and then discuss/ make plans to achieve this).
4. Picture what success looks like and plan for it.
   If you know where you are going it is much easier to get there! And to plan for it, so be clear what you are trying to achieve in your career and have key steps along the way. You need not have a set time frame but just having your path in place will help you recognise when you are ‘successful’. Equally if success to you is having a role at your current level and having a work life balance that works for you then be aware of that as your goal and consider it success once that is achieved. Taking the kids to school, fitting in a hobby or activity that you enjoy or spending time with family are valid goals, just because it is possible to climb higher in a hierarchy doesn’t mean you have to do it!
5. Take a break.
   Long bank holiday weekends certainly help! Make sure you switch off regularly for evenings and weekends but also over the course of a year take proper time out. With holidays back on the cards there are more opportunities than in recent years to put on the out of office and properly get away. Your body, mind and your career will thank you for it!
6. Celebrate the amazing things you have achieved!
   If you are junior then don’t forget all the hard work that went into your qualifications, those should be celebrated. If you are senior, then don’t forget that the position you now hold was once aspirational to you! Along the way there are a multitude of small wins and if you take time to look back on those then you will recognise how far you have come, and perhaps give yourself a break the next time you feel a bit lacklustre!

We are always happy to talk about your career, your plans and what success looks like to you, to help you get to where you want to be.

This month we have the StressLess coach, Vikki Pratley, summarising the benefit of Insights Discovery, a system to reveal personality traits and assign them a colour.

“With personality there is no right or wrong, but with leadership there definitely is a right way! Understand this way, and how your personality colours your leadership style, then you begin to make a significant difference” Ali Stewart of Ali Stewart & Co Ltd

We at Skylark believe this couldn’t be a truer statement. And that is why we start all training with the Insights Discovery model which is based on long established psychological theory and modern science. By learning about your personality preferences and how they affect your behaviour it builds self-awareness and gives us language to explain what we experience in the workplace. And the knowledge to learn to adapt and better connect with our peers, clients and contacts. Leading to more effective, profitable and happier workplaces.
Whether you are reading this as a leader or with a leader in mind, I’m sure we can all see the colour energies playing out in the workplace.
A leader with Fiery Red energy can be described as:
–     Competitive
–     Demanding
–     Determined
–     Strong willed
–     Purposeful.
Their main focus is to move at pace. Their no-nonsense approach can mean team members aren’t bogged down with distractions and the team will drive forward.
But these strengths overstretched or under pressure can lead to behaviours of:
–     Aggression
–     Controlling
–     Driving
–     Overbearing
–     Intolerant
This can leave team members feeling battered and bruised as the ‘storm’ whirls through.
Whilst the challenge coming from these leaders can drive a team forward, it can create an unsustainable high stress environment for some.
Conversely we have the Earth Green energy, which can be described as:
–     Caring
–     Encouraging
–     Relaxed
–     Sharing
–     Patient
Harmony and collaboration are top priority for leaders using Earth Green energy so team members are likely to feel valued and protected.
But Earth Green energy can also show up as:
–     Docile
–     Bland
–     Plodding
–     Reliant
–     Stubborn
Fast decisions might not be forthcoming and the pace can be too slow for some.
Although a supportive environment is lovely, it can inadvertently hinder high performance. Team members might not be challenged to be the best they can be.
A leader with Cool Blue energy could be described as:
–     Cautious
–     Precise
–     Deliberate
–     Questioning
–     Formal
More detached, these leaders can create an environment of stability where order rules. These leaders can be your rock and guide.
But you can also experience Cool Blue energy as:
–     Suspicious
–     Reserved
–     Rigid
–     Indecisive
–     Nit-picky
The team’s emotional welfare might not be the top of this leader’s priority!
Giving detailed direction can be useful, but it can also mean team members can be locked into one way of doing things.
Lastly, a leader with Sunshine Yellow energy can display behaviours described as:
–     Sociable
–     Dynamic
–     Demonstrative
–     Enthusiastic
–     Persuasive
Full of ideas and plans for the future, these leaders can have infectious enthusiasm inspiring a team into flurries of action!
Overstretching these strengths, however, can lead to behaviours seen as:
–     Excitable
–     Frantic
–     Indiscreet
–     Flamboyant
–     Hasty
Gathering facts before making decisions might bring a fast pace and action but that might not always be the right way forward. Although offering team members many solutions, the ideas might be more about the leader than the team. What have you experienced? Do you recognise yourself or your colleagues?

Vikki works with Senior Executives and professionals of all levels to support and challenge them to create healthy and sustainable high performing environments through leadership and self-management skills. If you’re interested to know more contact her at Vikki@skylark.life or check out the website.

If your current team doesn’t fit your personality, or if you have any other career related questions do get in touch.