The unspoken rules of law firms aren't written down.
They don't need to be.
Some people arrive already knowing them.
The right schools.
The right circles.
The right suit.
They've been prepared their whole lives for this room.
And then there's everyone else.
The ones who had to figure it out alone.
The ones who got something slightly wrong.
And felt every person in that room notice.
Patrick McCann, CEO of the City of London Law Society, was one of those people.
He still remembers the day they laughed at him.
Law calls it culture.
First-gen lawyers call it something else.
That quiet moment that stays with you for decades.
That's not an accident.
That's a system working exactly as designed.
Watch the full episode on Lawyer Unleashed - The Podcast.
Helen Pamely
Share
Ex-Law Firm Partner & Magic Circle lawyer.
40K on LinkedIn. Host of Lawyer Unleashed - The Podcast. The off-the-record conversations every lawyer needs to hear.
Raw insights on what really happens in law and how you succeed.
Lawyer burnout is systemic. And leaders know it.
Patrick McCann - CEO of the City of London Law Society - says what most senior leaders won't.
The law firm operating model is built on relentless pressure.
Extreme hours.
Decades of sustained intensity.
Half of lawyers have felt anxiety in the last year.
A third wouldn't recommend the career.
And yet the system keeps grinding.
My personal experience?
Up or out.
Burn through the associates.
Leave a few standing.
Call that leadership.
And under that pressure - behaviour that once would have been unacceptable is now being unleashed.
This isn't just a crisis.
It's a choice.
Listen to the full conversation on Lawyer Unleashed - The Podcast.
Nine HR complaints in one week.
Brushed off.
Because a partner is bringing in millions.
I spoke with Sahar Farooqi, Managing Partner at Arbor Law, and he said something that made me uncomfortable.
Lawyers are notoriously arrogant.
They think they understand everything.
But they're not good at running businesses.
And when revenue matters more than people?
Toxicity gets tolerated.
Then repeated.
A rainmaker with nine HR complaints in a week isn't a problem to solve.
He's a problem being protected.
At what point does law stop justifying bad leadership?
๐๏ธ Listen to the full conversation on Lawyer Unleashed
(On Apple YouTube & Spotify)
Most lawyers don't make partner because of this one thing.
It's not talent.
It's fear.
I sat down with Sahar Farooqi, Managing Partner at Arbor Law, and he said something that stopped me.
Lawyers are brilliant.
But they're terrified.
Of failure. Of rejection. Of getting it wrong.
So they play it safe.
They keep themselves small.
And they stall.
Sahar told me: "I can't think of anything I've ever done that mattered that didn't come with a degree of discomfort."
Every career-defining move you will ever make will feel uncomfortable.
That's not a red flag. That's the point.
Walls don't break from the safe side.
๐๏ธ Listen to the full conversation on Lawyer Unleashed
(On Apple YouTube & Spotify)
Most law firms know they are breaking lawyers.
They just choose to look away.
Sahar Farooqi - former barrister, CEO of Legalencia, Managing Partner at Arbor Law - has been inside this machine his entire career.
And he's done pretending.
In Episode 1 of Lawyer Unleashed, Sahar exposes:
The toxic leadership and echo chambers nobody names.
The rainmaker with nine HR complaints that nobody touches.
The 30 firms that slammed the door on fixing their culture.
The truth about what making partner actually means - and what's waiting on the other side.
The unwritten rules shaping your legal career.
This is the conversation that doesn't happen on the record.
Until now.
๐๏ธ Episode 1 of Lawyer Unleashed is now live (YouTube, Apple & Spotify)
Sahar: https://vist.ly/53vhd
Helen: https://vist.ly/53vhh
Iโve been building in total secrecy for 6 months.
(I almost didn't share this)
Thereโs a lot that doesnโt get said out loud in law.
The bits you donโt hear in meetings.
That donโt make it onto LinkedIn.
That never get said at all.
๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ผ๐น๐ฑ๐ ๐น๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ.
So I did something about it.
I went straight to the insiders.
To the people at the top.
To the free-thinkers.
And captured what's really going on.
Asked the questions ๐โ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ.
The ones that would have transformed my law career.
No scripts.
No 'playing it safe'.
The blunt truth on:
Partnership.
Power.
AI.
Toxic culture.
How leadership thinks.
Whatโs ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ behind closed doors.
I call these files ๐๐ข๐ธ๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฏ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ.
No.1 drops on Tuesday (12 May).
I wonโt lieโฆ I almost didn't release this.
But I'm also excited (slightly terrified) for you to hear it.
Hereโs your first look ๐ค
08/03/2023
I got put in my place yesterday.
And Iโm happy about this.
I said on my first call with my new supplier: โIโm a one man bandโ
๐ฌ
She cut me right off mid-sentence: โYou are NOT!โ - she exclaimed!
You are a โone WOMAN bandโ.
I loved her immediately.
A match made in heaven.
She was totally right.
And amazing she had the gumption (*NOT balls*) to call me out on it.
Go Laura ๐ค๐ค
Hereโs to International Womenโs Day.
08/03/2023
Oh I got put in my place yesterday.
And Iโm happy about this.
I said on my first call with my new supplier: โIโm a one man bandโ
๐ฌ
She cut me right off mid-sentence: โYou are NOT!โ - she exclaimed!
You are a โone WOMAN bandโ.
I loved her immediately.
A match made in heaven.
She was totally right.
And amazing she had the gumption (*NOT balls*) to call me out on it.
Go Laura ๐ค๐ค
Hereโs to International Womenโs Day.
05/03/2023
Sunday combat class ๐ฅท
If youโre in a fight - then fight.
If itโs time to meditate - then meditate.
Being FULLY present for whatever is - thatโs true mindfulness.
Have a kickass Sunday ๐
14/02/2023
Do you want better work/life balance & clearer boundaries around your working day?
If so, watch out for this ONE BIG OBSTACLE which will prevent this from happening.
As a former busy City lawyer I know what it's like to feel stressed out, overworked, have no time for yourself, for the gym, for healthy eating etc etc.
Typical City life hey.
So, you might think the solution is to create healthier boundaries and habits.
But, before this, there is an ESSENTIAL FIRST STEP.
๐ฅ This is: to build your inner-confidence and sense of your value ๐ฅ
Without this, all good intentions, when put under pressure, will fall flat as a pancake ๐ฅ
E.g. You say you're going to finish work at a certain hour or make that lunchtime gym class, but then your boss emails and asks to do something.
Sometimes this will be urgent. But many times it won't be and there will be room to push back.
If you:
๐ฌ aren't confident in your abilities
๐ฌ don't have a sense of your self-worth (outside of what you bill)
๐ฌ haven't developed an ability to communicate your needs
It will be very hard (if not impossible!) to say no.
And this is what it's going to take.
The good news is that these are all things you can work on AND get results with pretty quickly.
Take the time to invest in you.
It will be the biggest payoff you'll ever make ๐
ย ย ย ย
13/02/2023
I used to always worry about whether my work was up to scratch.
And this used to DRAIN ๐ณ๏ธ me.
It felt as though my energy and self-esteem were being squeezed out of me ๐
It was the classic imposter syndrome kicking in ๐
โCould I have done more?
โWas this what they wanted?
โDid I write too much / too little?
โWas I too slow?
โWas I too informal?
And so it goes on.
But there's a trick you can use though to get round a lot of this.
And it's pretty simple.
ASK people what they want from you ๐ณ
โ
ASK how they want you to interact with clients
โ
ASK how long they think you should give this piece of work
โ
ASK the level of detail required
โ
ASK what the syntax should be
โ
ASK what the turnaround is
Don't sit there worrying.
Most people don't bite.
And, well...if they do...it's probs time to look for a new job anyway! ๐คทโโ๏ธ
Double tap and follow if you found this helpful!
Click here to claim your Sponsored Listing.