BUSINESS
CAREERS
Lateral moves
Continued From Page 24
Unfortunately, taking less desir-
able clients with you can impede
growth potential at your new
firm. Whether it be referrals
from your new partners, or cli-
ents gained through your new
“brand” in the market, not tak-
ing the time to consciously
select which clients you keep
may limit your ability to maxi-
mize your practice during an
important window in your
career. You may find your prac-
tice shrinks a bit in the first
year (most do), but leaving
space for the right (and best)
clients to round out your client
mix is both good practice and
an incentive to properly build
your book of business.
Engage all your new partners
In the excitement of transi-
tioning to a new firm, one of the
areas frequently overlooked by
laterals is the partners in their
new firm. While most firms
make a concerted effort to
ensure new partners are
engaged by their practice group
(and perhaps “neighbouring”
groups), in larger firms there is
often a lost opportunity to con-
nect with lawyers outside the
immediate “practice group
family.”
Aside from the added benefit
of better understanding your
new firm’s culture, as a lateral
partner, you may not have the
internal networks enjoyed by
lawyers who articled at the firm
or those who spent significant
time building personal relation-
ships across practice groups. I
know one partner who, once a
week, made a point of walking
the halls of the other floors at
his firm to purposely introduce
himself to lawyers outside his
group. This proved invaluable
in both raising his profile and
sourcing leads from partners
outside his traditional “catch-
ment area.”
Act the part
Perhaps the greatest opportunity in taking on a role with a
new firm is the chance for a
fresh start. Whether it is finally
being seen as a partner by your
partners (a common issue faced
by those who articled at their
firm), actively marketing your
new profile in the business
community, taking on a leadership role within the firm or
industry, or using the transition
to properly focus your practice,
client base, or industry focus,
lawyers who use this window to
actively tailor their image to
properly reflect their practice
goals are consistently the ones
able to make the most of their
transition.
Similarly, for your clients, you
will be the person most responsible for framing your decision
to move and how it will increase
your value to them. Taking the
opportunity to actively define
both your reasons for the move
and the benefit your new platform will offer them can play a
pivotal role in achieving success
not only for your practice, but
the firm’s as well.
“In the excitement
of transitioning to a
new firm, one of the
areas frequently
overlooked by
laterals is the
partners in their
new firm.
In the end, the common
theme amongst successful laterals lies in their ability to take
an active role in making the
most of their transition. While
many partners are readily able
to articulate what they are
moving away from when leaving a
firm, those that are also able to
articulate what they are moving
towards, and take pro-active
steps in achieving these goals,
set themselves up to make the
most of their lateral move. ;
Executive Search & Leadership Consulting
The Geldart Group
Warren Smith is a managing
director of The Counsel Network,
a national recruitment and
career consulting firm. He is also
the only Canadian elected to the
Board of Directors for the
National Association of Legal
Search Consultants, North
America’s leading legal recruit-
ment industry association.
