As one award-winning managing partner has learnt, showing faith in the ability of the next generation has a long-lasting impact on their professional development.
In a recent episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, managing partner of Elit Lawyers by McGirr & Snell, Danielle Snell, recalled the roadblocks she encountered as a young lawyer and discussed the changes she was determined to make when starting her firm.
Snell didn’t have “the roadmap” as a junior in law, and she saw patterns across cases that left her feeling uneasy, such as a case being taken over, despite having done all the reading and preparation.
That, she said, “shapes careers, and it shapes confidence”.
She also recalled more positive experiences that were similarly formative, including a mail delivery to an imminent silk at the barrister chambers before she was a practising lawyer, where she was asked her thoughts about the case. “It just struck me because I thought, ‘wow, she cares about what I think about the case,’” she said.
“The ability to then tell her what I thought, it was so empowering.”
Snell added that the action, “as basic as it was back then”, mattered, adding: “It was still a perspective that a very senior person in law can always learn from.”
These experiences shaped not only her early years in the industry but also became motivators when starting Elit Lawyers.
“We’ve built things sort of on measured responsibility and had a really targeted focus on our lawyers providing as much input as possible and being very much a part of the conversation and part of the culture,” she said.
Another important consideration was work/life balance. For Snell, the key was accepting the human needs of her lawyers, and “focusing on the professional needs of juniors as distinct from the personal needs”. She aimed to differentiate her workplace from the ones of her past, where she was told parenting would stunt her legal career.
“It forced me to, I guess, put boundaries in place,” she said.
She added: “I think it extends beyond, rather than just being a parent, it’s about creating that diverse environment.”
This also applies to meeting with clients, which, she believes, benefits from authenticity. Instead of repeating advice she’d heard earlier in her career – “when you’re meeting with a client that is your persona, that is who you are” – she chose to focus on connection.
“I think if you show people that you are a diverse individual, that you do other things in your life and you hold other roles in your life … that can only make you more interesting, more attractive, more knowledgeable, more diverse in your opinions and experiences,” she said.
Snell raised the idea of mentoring and support as a crucial part of instilling change and giving lawyers the opportunities to seize opportunities. For her, it was about avoiding “a surface, tick-the-box kind of approach” and “empowering staff to understand that everyone has a different life”.
Snell’s experiences prove there is much to be learnt as a junior, but the key is speaking up. And while these discussions prove there are improvements on the horizon, it will require a commitment from law firms nationally to see lasting change.
“The more we talk, the more we brainstorm, the more we create our own policies and practices … you’re educating, and the more we can implement it in practice,” she said.
Amelia is a Professional Services Journalist with Momentum Media, covering Lawyers Weekly, HR Leader, Accountants Daily and Accounting Times. She has a background in technical copy and arts and culture journalism, and enjoys screenwriting in her spare time.
