Going solo
Sole practitioners have been firmly embedded in the legal landscape for decades (in November 2020 there were 2,036 sole practitioners in England and Wales, making up 20 per cent of firms).
Then the introduction of the SRA Standards and Regulations a little over a year ago paved the way for solicitors to go freelance. And now, the pandemic has triggered a swathe of solicitors to leave private practice and set up on their own, while others are undoubtedly considering taking that step.
Informal mentors can prove crucial to lawyers going solo as freelancers or as sole practitioners; and particularly to those who may be weighing up the risks and benefits of so doing, and may not have the access within their own firm to appropriate informal mentoring.
“Go to your own people, your own type of people”, advises Sophie Khan, solicitor-director of Sophie Khan & Co. For those setting up on their own, she says: “Informal mentoring comes from your own community – no one from outside can help you.”
Khan was fortunate in that she had an informal mentor in law even before she started practising – her father is a criminal defence barrister. “So I was in the unique position to know when, where and how to navigate becoming a small firm practitioner,” she says.
After setting up her own firm, she “joined all the professional membership groups that were relevant to me, so that I had a community of lawyers around me, who were in the same position as me”.
“Anything relevant to my work I would join – events, committee meetings; you have to surround yourself with experienced people and those with your level of experience.”
Khan adds: “As a small firm practitioner, especially if you are practising on your own, you need that interaction with other small firm practitioners, so you don’t feel that you are on your own, and know that everyone else is facing the same daily challenges as you.”
https://www.solicitorsjournal.com/home/sjarticle/Mentoring:%20No%20man%20is%20an%20island#
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