Words of career wisdom from last year’s Hot 100

Saleem Fazal, Taylor Wessing

My mother always said (and still does!) “reach out for the stars as best you can, and you will never be disappointed.” Something I always remember in challenging moments. In a similar vein, when asking a mentor how you become a partner, they said the firm did not select partners, but that partners selected themselves through their performance and behaviours. Both of these remind me that our destiny is to some extent in our own hands, and we all have the ability to challenge and improve.

Imran Bhatia, Unbound / Norlake Hospitality

In a work context, that “everyone has a boss who they want to look good in front of, and if you can help someone (whether internally or externally) impress their boss, they will always appreciate it and will appreciate you.” One of the very first partners I worked with as a trainee told me this, and it has always served as a good reminder to go the extra mile when doing your job and to pre-empt what help and support you can provide to your client beyond just answering the question they have asked you, by anticipating and offering answers to the questions that they might not have even thought of yet (but that their boss might ask them).”

Simon Ridpath, Charles Russell Speechlys

Ffion Flockhart, Norton Rose Fulbright

“Find the right balance”, and it was my dad. I definitely burned the candle at work in my 20s and didn’t really appreciate what he was saying – I thought he was trying to slow me down and figured he just didn’t understand what you needed to do to succeed as a City lawyer. I now get it. And while my life is still very full, it is definitely more balanced with the various things that bring me joy and hopefully happiness to those around me.

Stephen O’Flaherty, Lewis Silkin

My mum (who is always good for a wise word or two) bought me a set of espresso cups when I qualified – it’s always reassuring when your lawyer takes their inspiration from kitchenware! One of them said ‘no one has it all figured out’ which really resonates with me, it’s quite a simple message but also very reassuring.”

Mark Mills, Ofgem

“Speak to the least informed person in the room”. It has been with me for so long that I don’t actually remember who said it to me, although I can narrow it to a few potential candidates. It is a great principle for inclusive communication which I think is particularly important in the diverse, multi-disciplinary environment in which I work currently. If you focus on someone who knows very little or nothing about the subject-matter and can get your point across to them, you’ll have no problems taking those who are more informed with you too.

Tony Randle, Shoosmiths

If you have the choice of being right or being kind, choose to be kind. Those wise words were imparted to me recently from our CEO-elect, David Jackson (who, under questioning, conceded that he had got it from someone else). Just think about it.

I did, and it made me cringe recalling countless instances when (particularly as a junior lawyer) I had smugly corrected people or arrogantly showed off how much I knew. If you need to correct someone, do it in a kind way. And if you don’t need to correct them, then don’t!

Mark Blois, Browne Jacobson

Perhaps rather oddly given that perfectionism and attention to detail tend to be virtues that are highly prized in law firms, the wisest thing ever said to me was advice that ‘if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly’.

This maxim was originally said by G. K. Chesterton but the first time I came across it was when it was said to me by the partner for whom I worked at Browne Jacobson in the first few years of my career. He was a very talented and young litigation partner who would frequently don his wisdom hat and deliver pithy dictums at opportune moments with a view to reinforcing his points.

As I recall it the advice had been given to me to in relation to a detailed report I had been charged with preparing for a client and I have to confess I was initially completely confounded by the advice. I can remember reflecting and puzzling over it for some weeks after it was first said, because surely being a good lawyer was all about impeccably high standards of analysis and brilliance of communication?

But, as with so many words of wisdom, the meaning of the advice I had been given and its importance increasingly came into focus as my career has progressed and the dictum has ultimately been a real enabler for me. At the level of the provision of legal advice a focus on excellence should be a given but perfectionism can frequently be a stalling tactic and the enemy of action, delivery and value.

Later, once I had started to seek to build an education practice at Browne Jacobson, I came to understand that at the level of the business of law perfectionism is far from conducive to innovation and entrepreneurialism. In my experience those who pursue perfection most determinedly are also often those who are impacted the most by the fear of failure and fear of failure can unfortunately sometimes become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Neil Harnby, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

An eminent lawyer once told me, when I became a partner in 2004, always to put your health and family ahead of your client work. That person had sadly worked themselves to illness, early retirement and not seen their family grow up. I have never forgotten that advice and tried to ensure that the same didn’t happen to me nor to anyone else for whom I was responsible.  It is not easy to balance this in the cut-throat business world and I have failed to get it right on so many occasions: I now can’t even remember half the deals I’ve done but at the time I know they took over my life. No job is more important than your health, family and friends.

Ellie Pinnells, Fieldfisher

“There are two ways to make yourself look big: 1. Make everyone else look small or 2. Make everyone look big.”

This was said to me by a very successful American opera singer when I was about 10. I was always tall for my age, and it took me ages to work out what that meant.

The second way (make everyone look big) is definitely the way to go, and I realised this more and more as my career progressed. The team around you (and beneath you in terms of seniority) are the people that will make or break your career. You can’t get anything off the ground without a great team around you.

Polly Richard, Travers Smith

I have received many words of wisdom in my career but two pieces in particular stand out.

The first piece dates back to my first seat as a trainee at Travers. My then supervisor (Phil Sanderson, our ex-head of private equity) said to me in my review “Be you. Be Polly.” That might sound really obvious or trivial but it made a huge impact on me at what was a very influential point in my career. What I took from that was that my difference (in background) was a strength and not a weakness. That really stuck. It encouraged me to be my true self and only by doing so have I been able lead a happy professional life.

The second was more recently from Stephen Paget-Brown who used to head up the disputes practice at Travers (spearheading the changes that have helped to bring us to where we are today). He said: “In everything we do in our professional lives we should put our own personal wellbeing, professional integrity and reputation first, the firm’s interests second, and the clients’ third“. Our tendency is to have this the reverse way round.

Jan Lasik, The National Trust

“Only a boring person is ever bored” – a rather cutting riposte made by my mum to me at some point in my childhood. It has stuck with me as an eminently wise observation ever since- then again, I suspect my mum had never experienced the joys of a month long stint in a data room on a multi-jurisdictional M&A deal…