For Ms Favre, the onset of COVID-19 prompted her decision to venture out on her own.

The mindset at the firm she was at began to contrast with her own. She increasingly encountered differences in the approaches she wished to take on legal matters and in dealing with client matters, as opposed to her employers. 

She noticed stresses in the workplace that she supposed would impact the quality of her relationships with clients and the quality of the work she wished to deliver. In the end, Ms Favre didn’t want to risk client dissatisfaction. 

“I didn’t like the changes that were happening at my place of employment at the time, and I thought, ‘I think it’s time I go out on my own,” she said.

At the time, Ms Favre had built a strong personal brand and had a lot of autonomy within the practice she was operating. She was essentially “operating a law firm within a law firm”, which helped her develop the skills for client management, working cases, billing, and going to court.

She was receiving a lot of referrals from other firms and clients, who wanted her to represent them rather than the firm she was working with, and her friends in the profession advised her: “You’ve got the skills to start your own practice, so just get out there and have that flexibility of running your own show.”

At first, when considering going out on her own, Ms Favre was nervous. “I was terrified of going out on my own,” she said, “being so young [and] being a woman, you might want to start an early family”.

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“I thought there’s no way I’d succeed going out on my own, especially when you’ve got a mortgage. How am I going to finance that if I get no work?”

But she considered things more deeply: “If I do go out on my own, what are the risks? I assessed the situation. 

“I had some personal savings to back me up and to put towards capital that I needed to grow my business. I already had about 20 clients who were really attached to me, and I had this feeling that they would follow me if I left, and they actually did. 

“That set me up pretty well and gave me the confidence; I’ll make this work.”

COVID-19 helped her kickstart the firm. She looked at the pandemic in a positive way; when starting one’s own business, especially in a law firm, the largest overhead commonly faced is the commercial lease.  

As there was no in-person contact allowed at the time, she was able to get the firm started without an in-person office, which allowed her to accumulate the capital needed to keep growing.

One of the most important things needed to secure the success of a firm is a strong personal brand, Ms Favre explained. 

The truth of this dawned upon her when another practitioner, who she described as a good friend and a big influence in her life, imparted a piece of wisdom to her: 

“As lawyers, we are personal ambassadors for our clients,” he told her; “When a client comes to you with a legal problem, they need to trust in you, they need to align with your personality and get along well with you, and they need to be confident that you will have their back.”

This informed how she shaped the branding on her website and social media. “I make it known to clients that the care factor at my law firm is really high, that we have a lot of passion for what we do in the work that we do for clients, and with clients knowing that they are drawn to my law firm,” she said.

Most importantly, “whatever I advertise; I deliver on,” she said. 

Plus, Ms Favre added, the past couple of years has seen her shortlisted in finalist positions for several Lawyers Weekly awards, “and that did help a fair bit with marketing”.

Ms Favre imparted a final piece of advice for lawyers considering going out on their own. 

“After you’ve had your two years of supervised practice, there may be people who are drawn to you as an advocate or a legal representative. 

“With law being quite a competitive industry — there [are] thousands of lawyers in Australia — so if you’re getting a lot of referrals, you’ll know that getting out there and creating your own brand, you’ll be successful.

“Once you’ve really got your personal name out there and you’ve got people who like to refer cases to you, go out on your own,” she stated.