Risky Business

Lawyers are well known for being risk averse. It’s not surprising when we are trained to see the potential downsides of every situation and work everyday to protect our clients against them. It’s also inevitable that this tendency to manage risk has an impact of our own personal outlook on life. But there are perhaps some aspects of life where lawyers see risk when others see opportunity.

By far the majority of lawyers in the world will say that they could not become a Consultant Lawyer. They will cite numerous reasons why it is not possible for them to do so and why they will fail. For these reasons, most lawyers will say that the risk of becoming a Consultant Lawyer is too great when compared to what they have to lose.

Most lawyers who have the skills needed to become a Consultant are probably enjoying fairly successful careers – at least by the standards one usually uses to measure career progression. Status, seniority and a good level of income all go hand in hand with being a successful lawyer. But  if the thought of walking away from that successful job has ever crossed your mind, you should also try to imagine what you could be walking towards. Whilst many will see life as a Consultant Lawyer as one without a guaranteed regular salary, a few will see that it’s also a life which brings with it a whole new world of flexibility and freedom, plus the opportunity to take control of their earning power.

Right now we are facing one of the most uncertain times in our global history. Perhaps only a World War would be more disruptive to our way of life than Coronavirus. And yet this is potentially the best time to embrace becoming a Consultant Lawyer with nexa law. When difficult economic times come, the most obvious reaction is to batten down the hatches, cut costs and hold back on investment. At the very least, your next pay rise is out the window. But more than that, your firm may not be grabbing the opportunities that tough times bring. Firms will be cutting costs left, right and centre. But many will be missing a trick by ignoring how they can better serve their clients in more innovative and effective ways.

If you are one of the few lawyers who sees opportunity where others see risk, you will have great success as a Consultant Lawyer! If you can see that clients don’t care about how nice your office is; that they don’t care about your Legal 500 ranking; that they don’t care about how much you’ve invested in your CRM system. They only care that you care! 

Clients want a lawyer they can trust to solve their problems quickly and cost-effectively. The rest doesn’t matter. If you’re a lawyer who cares about their clients, you will thrive wherever you are. But if you’re a lawyer who cares about your lifestyle too, why wouldn’t you choose to thrive in a firm that gives you complete freedom to work when, where, how and with whom you choose?

Perhaps the greatest risk you face as a lawyer is continuing to work in a traditional law model at a time when both clients and lawyers alike are recognising that those firms are becoming obsolete. 

For more information about becoming a Consultant Lawyer with nexa law, contact our Recruitment Manager David Roth using info@nexa.law.