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Amid a turbulent economy and the physical demands of pregnancy, the past year pushed Marianne Marchesi to the brink — even leading her to consider stepping away from her role as a firm owner. But instead, she dug deep and guided her firm through a remarkable period of growth.
Speaking on a recent episode of The Boutique Lawyer Show, Marianne Marchesi, founder and managing principal of Legalite, candidly reflected on the personal and professional challenges she faced as a firm owner in the last financial year and how she chose to rise above them rather than give up.
Like many firm leaders, Marchesi was navigating a complex economic landscape.
“It was a challenging time in FY24 across the board, economically, with the cost of living, the cost of doing business and interest rates. Everybody was kind of trying to find their feet in a very difficult economy and difficult market at the same time,” she said.
On top of these external pressures, Marchesi was also dealing with a difficult pregnancy, which forced her to take several months of parental leave and step back from the business at a critical time.
“I also was pregnant, and I was quite sick during my pregnancy. Then I took about three or four months of parental leave when I had my baby. That was a very happy moment in my personal life. But it coincided with, you know, a difficult financial year,” she said.
“It was really hard to be away from the business during that time and not be able to be fully invested in the growth of the business when it really needed me. So that was quite challenging, and it was a perfect storm that led to a difficult year.”
Returning to the business after parental leave, Marchesi shared how she felt the full weight of everything she’d been carrying crystallise, as the dual responsibilities of running a firm and navigating new motherhood took their toll and left her questioning whether she could truly manage both.
“It was a long [road from] A to B. When I came back from parental leave, I was juggling being a mum, too, and coming back into the business,” she said.
“There were definitely moments before I came back from parental leave that I felt like throwing in the towel, to be quite honest.”
Rather than give up, she decided to double down – not through radical restructuring or drastic changes, but with a mindset shift.
“When I came back, I was really determined to turn things around. It was actually a huge mindset shift for me that led to the results. The mindset was I started this firm because I loved it, and I wanted to do something different, as I alluded to earlier,” she said.
“You don’t lose your way, but you forget. You forget why you went into business in the first place. So, I very actively chose to return to loving my business. And so every decision I made in the business was based on that key mindset.”
One of the most pivotal steps in overcoming the mental strain of feeling she couldn’t do it all was when Marchesi brought the entire team together – from junior support staff to principals – for a full-day strategy session.
“One key thing we did that I think was a huge contributor to the turnaround was that we all got together as a team and had a full-day strategy day,” she said.
“Everybody from junior support staff to principals, everybody in our firm got together, and we developed the strategy together, and we focused on one year rather than a five-year plan, which is great, but also we were in such a period of uncertainty.”
During the session, Marchesi explained how narrowing the firm’s focus to a one-year vision offered a practical and motivating response to the uncertainty they were facing, which not only grounded the team but also fostered a sense of shared purpose and collective drive.
“Five years was too long for us at that point in time. So we focused on 12 months. What are the key essential things we will do together for the next 12 months? We did not pivot, but we evolved our vision, and we workshopped it together again as a team,” she said.
“It meant that because we developed it together, everybody believed in the vision, and we were all invested in it, too. I can’t speak more highly enough of getting your team involved at a strategy level because we really felt it as well. After the strategy day, the whole team immediately felt the change in culture and mindset.”
