Small or large firms

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Small or large firms?

• Legal Careers Options Evening
• September 18 2007
• Dr Peter Lynch

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Three main dimensions.

• Size (how big is the firm relative to other
  firms)
• Scope (how broad or narrow are the area/s of law)
• Location (CBD, fringe CBD or suburbs)
• Dont just think about size and brand.

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Trade-offs

• You need to appreciate
• The choice you make will determine the kind of
  learning / growth experience you have
• There will be a mix of judgement and luck
• You need to have realistic expectations
• No matter how bright you are, you are at the
  bottom of the food chain

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Very large firms

• Usually have bigger / more sophisticated clients
• Do much of the work done on big deals
• Are very structured organisationally
• Have clear development pathways
• Provide structured and usually diverse training
• Have deep support resources
• Often have greater social depth
• Are the safe path if you want top o/seas jobs
  later
• Demand high performance advancement is very
  performance-based
• Offer potentially very high incomes in the long
  term BUT competition for those incomes is intense
  and only the best and most committed advance to
  the top

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Small firms

• Usually have a greater number of small clients
• Are organisationally more flexible
• Development pathways are usually less clear
• Training is usually on-the-job through mentoring
• Usually have shallower support resources
• Socially, there are fewer people
• Often, the opportunities to interact directly
  with clients and take more direct control of
  matters come quicker
• Typically, the performance demands (in terms of
  production) are slightly lower
• Can build confidence quickly with a good mentor

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Other cases.

• Boutique (eg specialist family or crim.)
• Narrower focus
• Narrower basis of learning
• Slight barrier to broader choices later
• Opportunity to fast-track spin-off
• Do you know what you want at this stage?

• Suburban
• Can be professionally and socially isolated
• But can provide basis of establishing yourself in
  a community where you think you want to practise
• What kind of person are you?
• What do you want out of your career?

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No matter who, your employer will be looking for.

• Reliability (I dont let people down ever)
• Staying power (I dont go home sick with a minor
  headache)
• Low maintenance (Im not a Prima Donna / you
  dont need to spoon feed me either)
• Productivity (I put my head down and do the work
  Im paid to do)
• Realistic sense of self (I accept I have much to
  learn)
• Honesty (Ill say when I dont understand)
• Cooperation (Its not all just about me)
• , and some legal ability as well would be good

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Basic tips

• Get good results (give yourself more bargaining
  power in a competitive market)
• Talk research as widely as possible (become a
  sponge for information re whos who in the
  profession read Legal pages in Friday
  Australian and Friday Fin Review)
• Understand yourself (if you thrive on having lots
  of people around, then take that into account)
• Think beyond your first job (dont flit around
  if you demonstrate staying power, you will stand
  out)
• Dont think money (think about how you will
  develop your capabilities do this well and the
  money will come)
• Become active early (eg casual clerking - the
  sooner you enter the profession, the quicker you
  will understand the firms and people you might /
  might not thrive with)

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Finally.

• Lots of reasons to be positive
• Entering practice is a different world
• Some Uni lower achievers find they thrive when
  actually doing law
• Try to make the choice right for you
• But dont sweat too much about it
• Once youre working, even bad experiences are
  useful experiences
• Work, listen and learn and the future and s
  will start taking care of themselves.

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p.lynch_at_dcilyncon.com.auwww.dcilyncon.com.au

• The Astor Centre
• 9 / 445 Upper Edward Street
• Spring Hill QLD 4000