Speaking recently on an episode of The Boutique Lawyer Show, he reflected on developing a new practice area within his boutique firm, as well as the importance of developing new skills and getting outside of your comfort zone, particularly as a junior lawyer.

Mr Annicchiarico started with WRP just after the firm was established, eight years ago – and set up the firm’s intellectual property practice, a somewhat “daunting exercise” he said was made easier with good tech literacy.

“The thing that I found that gave me a massive leg up in everything I do is the experience I had outside of the law in the sense that I knew I had technological proficiencies and computer literacy that no partner at the firm had. They had no idea how to build a website,” he said.

“They had no idea about the tech side of things, which really gave, of course, me a leg up in the sense that I understood the technology that they didn’t. I think that’s the same today. A lot of junior lawyers know what NFTs are. They know what ChatGPT is. They know what Google Bard is. A lot of the partners are terrified of it. So, I think you need to use it to your advantage.”

Ensuring that his practice area was thriving during the COVID-19 pandemic was another challenge for Mr Annicchiarico, but it resulted in stronger client relationships and increased value for the firm.

“There were so many favours we did during that period. It’s not about just crunching units or bringing in billables. Sometimes, as I said, it’s about adding value and building relationships. We just basically supported the people that we already knew and let people know that anyone that was struggling out there, we could support them in other ways through payment plans or that we had many different ways that we help people,” he explained.

“I look at the client base, and it’s almost like we’ve got almost less Adelaide-based clients than we do in intellectual property than we do in the eastern seaboard. The majority are in states, so it was just keeping open communications and having meetings in the same way we were always having meetings for my team.”

VIEW ALL

However, Mr Annicchiarico advised other young lawyers to get out of their comfort zone more often, particularly when launching a new practice area or part of the business.

“I had to really learn everything myself, create my own precedent and be in a lot of situations that took me out of my comfort zone. I think probably one of the biggest lessons is being used to being uncomfortable almost, getting used to being out of your comfort zone,” he said.

“Rather than almost avoiding it, embrace it. Look forward to it. Understand that this is a part of the process because character building helps you in your resilience, helps you take initiative. I think at the end of the day, once you’ve done something once, the second time, it’s a thousand times easier. It’s just a matter of getting comfortable being out of your comfort zone.”

The most challenging part of building a business within a business, Mr Annicchiarico said, was educating clients, as well as other staff members.

“In intellectual property, there’s quite a lot of education needed to give, for example, to a start-up. They don’t know the difference between a business name and a trademark, for example. They don’t know why they need something in intellectual property a lot of the time. So, I spend a lot of my time educating, explaining to clients what’s the benefit of it and why they need it. Then once we get to the end of that, sometimes the client says, ‘Oh, actually, we just don’t need that now or maybe in a couple of years,’ which is absolutely fine,” he said.

“But unlike a standard corporate commercial lawyer, when the client needs to sell their business, they know they need a sale contract. There’s not much education going into the need, the necessity for it. But on the flip side, it’s given me the opportunity to build a lot of relationships with clients and the number of times they’ve come back to me and said, ‘I love that you were just trying to tell me what I need to know and give me the tools to succeed rather than just trying to sell a product to me.’ It was fantastic, and that’s why they came back to me.”

And in terms of advice for other junior lawyers looking to make their mark on their own firm, Mr Annicchiarico said that for him, the greatest sense of reward and achievement has come from contributing and building and being a part of something.

“I think going into a practice area where you do your job and you leave, I don’t think that you’ll get the same gratification and feel the same sense of achievement as opposed to building something yourself or helping to build something and be a part of something,” he concluded.

“The end goal is, certainly, you feel a greater sense of achievement. You’d be surprised how much you learn from just doing something different. You never really know whether skills that you develop, whether in the law or outside the law or anywhere, can help you.”

The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Stephen Annicchiarico, click below: