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.