top of page

The rules
of the commercial law firm game


PLAY THE GAME

RULE

No. 1

Commercial law firms are part of a system with reasonably common rules. If the system doesn't suit you, find one that does - there are many other legal career options.

RULE

No. 2


STICK TO THE FUNDAMENTALS

There are no shortcuts. Understand how the system works and navigate your way carefully.

RULE

No. 3


TAKE CAREER CONTROL, BUT BE PATIENT

Don't rely on anyone else, and do not drift. Take the initiative, but give it time to work out. Good things take time.

RULE

No. 4


PEOPLE, RELATIONSHIPS & LEADERSHIP MATTER MOST

Legal skills are rarely a differentiator. What stands out to clients and colleagues are the personal qualities of the human being operating the legal machine. Beyond the necessary threshold professional skills it is people, relationship and leadership skills that dominate the individual qualities required to progress in a law firm. The impact of artificial intelligence will only emphasise this.

RULE

No. 5


FOCUS ON HIGH-PERFORMANCE, NOT OVERACHIEVEMENT

Commercial lawyers are often too busy doing what comes naturally to focus on what matters most. Successful lawyers control their behaviour to drive personal and collective high performance instead.

RULE

No. 6


BUILD A CAREER BY FITTING IN PROFESSIONALLY

A long-term career within the law firm system is about making three great choices - the Biology of finding and managing your natural fit with the right role, the Physics of finding and managing your business fit with the right team and firm, and the Chemistry of finding and managing interpersonal fit with clients and colleagues.

RULE

No. 7


BECOME A RAINMAKER BY STANDING OUT PERSONALLY

The next level is about stepping out of the comfort zone of a lawyer and building the commitment, environment, skills, discipline, credibility, strategy and perseverance to become a business. This will rely on your ability to build trusting relationships with those with the work you want.

RULE

No. 8


BUILD A LEGACY BY BECOMING AN A-PLAYER LEADER

The top level is about building something bigger than yourself by winning the war for talent through leadership and teamwork. This requires a personal transition from the business of law to the business of attracting, developing and channelling top talent. And then helping others to do the same to create a scalable and sustainable system of high-performance success.

The rules
of building a long-term career

RULE

No. 9


CHOOSE WISELY & GIVE IT TIME TO WORK

We are products of our choices. Engineer a hierarchy of great choices – your natural fit with the right role, your business fit with the right team and firm and your interpersonal fit with colleagues and clients. But give those choices time to work, relationships to build and opportunities to appear.

RULE

No. 10


PLAY TO YOUR STRENGTHS

Be sure you have the drive to last the course and the willingness to go out of your comfort zone and build the skills to sustain a long law firm career.


DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY

RULE

No. 11

Be sure to find a role that balances growing levels of challenge with your growing skill levels. Life's too short to spend an undue amount of your career either bored or anxious.

RULE

No. 12


FOLLOW THE STARS & CASH COWS

Your economic future will be rosier if you choose a practice area which is commercially valuable over the long term - either a Star area that is the new big thing or a Cash Cow which firms milk.

RULE


TARGET CORE BUSINESS

No. 13

Choose a team and a firm where your practice area is either current core business or likely future core business. Core businesses attract the most attention, investment, support and reward.

RULE

No. 14


YOUR NEEDS MATTER MORE THAN YOUR WANTS

You will thrive only if you are in an environment where your professional, career and personal needs are reasonably well met. You will get to what you want by focusing on getting what you need.

RULE


UNDERSTAND & MANAGE YOURSELF

No. 15

Your unique behavioural hard wiring is your strength but can also be your worst enemy. Your behavioural blindspots can let you down, especially when the pressure is on. Understand who you are, why you tend to behave as you do and manage these downside risks by choosing to behave differently when necessary.

RULE

No. 16


UNDERSTAND & CONNECT WITH OTHERS

The quality of your professional life will be dictated by your people skills and resulting relationships with colleagues and clients. In a world where many people are faking it, you need to see through the mask and understand who someone is and what they feel to connect with them properly and build high-quality relationships. Stop broadcasting and start listening.

The rules
of becoming a rainmaker

RULE

No. 17


BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

Few become commercial lawyers to build, run and become a business, and even fewer will find it natural. It requires significant additional commitment, skills, discipline, perseverance and the right supportive environment.

RULE

No. 18


PLAY TO WIN

The challenge is to not just win your fair share of business but to take external market share from others.


BUILD YOUR CREDIBILITY & YOUR TRACK RECORD

RULE

No. 19

Your track record must bear scrutiny and will be earned the hard way by tucking in behind and learning from genuine experts over a considerable period. But visibility usually trumps ability. You must also build and project a clear and authentic brand of who you are and why that should matter to the type of people you want to work for.

RULE

No. 20


DIFFERENTIATE YOURSELF

Your credibility and brand must stand out from the crowd. To take market share, you need a competitive advantage.

RULE

No. 21


BUILD RELATIONSHIPS, NOT JUST NETWORKS

Networking without following through on relationship building is just performing. What counts is not just finding those with the work you want to do but building lasting trusting relationships with them – usually by giving a tremendous amount without condition or expectation of anything in return.

RULE

No. 22


MINE THE INTERNAL MARKET

Your success in building the external relationships that matter most will most likely depend on your success in building internal trusting relationships inside the firm. Lay strong and deep foundations of role fit, business fit, and people fit, and the internal market can become a career-long gold mine.

RULE

No. 23


FOLLOW THE MONEY & THE RELATIONSHIPS

Facts change, and markets and people move, so be pragmatic, adaptable and just follow the money and the people. Never losing an existing client and gaining new clients when your best relationships move on is a repeatable winning formula.

RULE

No. 24


STAY IN THE GAME

It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Stay relevant and match fit. Look after your clients and your people. Enjoy the work. Be patient, ride out the knocks and build a score relentlessly and methodically. Stay in the game over the long term, and you will naturally accumulate market share as others give up.

The rules
of becoming an A-Player leader

RULE

No. 25


WIN YOUR WAR FOR TALENT

Without money to burn, a big and sustainable business in a law firm can only ever be the product of a long-term system to attract, develop and retain top talent.

RULE

No. 26


A-PLAYER LEADERSHIP IS REQUIRED

Winning the war for talent requires the type of leadership which transforms lawyers from individual overachievers into high-performance team players.

RULE

No. 27


CHANGE YOUR MINDSET

A-Players transform themselves from being takers, bosses and controllers of resources to being givers, coaches and enablers of talent.

RULE

No. 28


BUILD A TEAM CONTRACT

A-Players use teamwork to overcome the contradictions and paradoxes that otherwise tend to blunt lawyer performance.

RULE

No. 29


ALIGNMENT - NO ONE WILL BE LED WHERE THEY DON'T WANT TO GO

Buy-in will be a condition of any talented lawyer following you.

RULE


COHESION - SELECT PEOPLE, DON'T COLLECT PEOPLE

No. 30

Cohesion in the qualities, experiences and skills of team members is essential. This requires the wisdom and discipline to select the right people in and the wrong people out rather than collect people.

RULE

No. 31


TRUST - CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH PEOPLE CAN THRIVE

Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Great people can only perform at their best if their professional, career and personal needs are met.

RULE

No. 32


LOOK AFTER YOURSELF

A-Player leadership is a rewarding privilege, but comes pregnant with risks for your wellbeing and career. Manage these risks and you will thrive.

THE 

RULES

32

What it takes to thrive in a commercial law firm

Start your journey
to thriving in the business of law

bottom of page