I wasn’t expecting this…

A while ago, I approached some female senior partners in law firms (they do exist) to ask this question:

“What advice would you give to junior female lawyers on how to achieve a successful career in the law?”

Amongst others, I received this reply from Aedamar Comiskey, Senior Partner and Chair of Linklaters. I thought it was fantastic and I wanted to share it with you.

Her advice was:

1. Be ambitious and if it’s what you want, aim for the top job! Don’t ask yourself ‘why’, ask yourself why not? Ceilings are there to be broken and it’s so satisfying when you achieve it.

2. Be proactive. You should be the most interested person in your own career. If you wait for someone to tell you how to do it, someone who took the decision for themselves will have beaten you to it.

3. Perseverance is a virtue. There’s a saying I like – ‘if opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door’. Basically, don’t give up: If you want to get somewhere, keep trying. You might need to think creatively, or take an alternative route, but if it matters to you, keep going.

4. Focus on clients, clients and clients – there are so many opportunities – clients’ agendas and priorities are shifting all the time – be ready to pivot our service and advice to match them.

5. Keep a positive outlook and try not to strive for a perfection, which doesn’t exist, or you’ll make yourself feel bad. It’s really a mindset and if you’re doing your best then, at the end of the day, you can’t do more than that.

6. Last but not least - take the advice of Henry James – He said three things in human life are important – the first is to be kind, the second is to be kind and the third is to be kind. So be kind to yourself and your colleagues. It will make you better at your job and happier at your job and those around you will feel better and happier as well.

There is SO much to be inspired by here.

But, for today, I wanted to focus on Aedamar’s final point. That she placed such emphasis on kindness (and quoted Henry James) delighted me to my core.

Kindness is, after all, very much not a prerequisite for working in a law firm. Indeed, I suspect it would be actively frowned upon by certain members of the profession.

And yet.

What will we remember when we reach the end of our careers?

Yes, of course, we’ll remember the highs and lows of a career in a highly competitive (and occasionally dramatic) profession.

• That time I improbably won a strike out application, achieving what a colleague observed was “the best possible outcome” for the client when I was barely two years’ PQE.

• But also the time when I was roundly told off by a judge leaving me in tears outside the tribunal (ok, so this happened a few times…).

But won’t we remember most of all the times when we were treated with kindness in a profession where it can be in somewhat short supply?

• The judges who helped me by gently suggesting that I pursue an alternative argument in a case, when I was clearly a novice in need of some guidance.

• The senior colleagues who gave up their time on multiple occasions to help me prepare for hearings and generously shared encouragement and such vulnerable statements as “come to a hearing with me; you’ll see that I’m not that good really!”

I think I’ll remember those most of all.

Kindness is one of our key values in the FLC membership. I wanted to set up a community whereby kindness was ingrained in the culture; where we support rather than compete with each other. We’re only a few months in but so far it seems to be working: members have reported that FLC is their “safe space” and that the sessions are “very helpful” and “honest, relaxed and relatable.”

If you’d like to join us in the membership in the new year, make sure you’re on the waitlist here:

What random acts of kindness have you encountered in your legal career? I would love to know.

~ Rachel