Mark Quinn, Consultant Solicitor allows us into his journey into consultancy. From fatherhood to flexibility and financial benefits, Consultancy at Taylor Rose has allowed Mark to continue to do what he loves as a legal professional.
I have always loved my job as a solicitor, but I wasn’t always as fond of some of the things that go with working in an office and trying to climb up the slippery pole to partnership. Becoming a consultant with Taylor Rose has allowed me to do the job I love, lose the office politics and get the financial benefits I would not have got in a traditional law firm.
Two years’ ago, I was doing well in my job as a personal injury solicitor, but a life change in the form of a baby was about to happen to me and my wife. I didn’t want to take two weeks paternity, so I used it as an opportunity to leave the role and take six months off.
At that point, I knew I didn’t really want to go back into the same old tired office job where you climb up the ladder and try to become a partner while stepping on necks to get there.
In my experience as a legal professional for 10 years, there can be some quite ugly internal politics in offices and I’m not interested in that even though I’m ambitious. I looked at becoming a consultant solicitor and found it was potentially a good way of fast-tracking myself to partnership level without climbing the ladder internally.
When I researched consultancy, by far and away the most attractive option was with Taylor Rose. The brand appeal was great as they are a large and well-respected firm who are keen to take on more consultants.
Once I had a call with Antony Jaggard, Director, I didn’t feel the need to look elsewhere for a consultancy programme. Antony explained that I would have to bring in my own clients, but I liked his pragmatic approach. He said that if it doesn’t work out between us, then we can just go our separate ways. However, if I could make it work the financial benefits would be considerable as I would be taking up to 70% of what I billed.
The risk element attracted me as I trusted myself to bring work in. That is one of the key things with consultancy, you have to back yourself as a lawyer to get repeat clients.
Consultancy at Taylor Rose offers you the chance to set out by yourself without all of the prohibitive costs of starting your own practice. These include indemnity insurance, compliance, HR and IT support, all of which are taken care of by Taylor Rose.
You also have the brand of a major law firm behind you and don’t have to set up your own website. For me having the brand behind me was a major attraction as when clients Google me they can see I am associated with a major firm and a trusted brand. Having all of the support stuff taken care of also means I can get on with the job I love – looking after clients.
I took the risk and for six months work was a little thin on the ground as I tried to build things up; yet it’s all been worth it. Taylor Rose make it clear that they won’t provide you with the work, but they will give you access to a whole network of other consultants.
Often you will get an email asking if anybody could do a particular job, so there are referrals from other consultants. That’s probably one of the biggest sources of work and is invaluable.
I would say that I’m now earning around double the amount than what I was when I was employed by a firm and I expect it to get better. The nature of my work means I may not get paid for a couple of years for a case, so when cases like that start to come to fruition it will be even better. The sky really is the limit as the model also allows me to take on consultants, so I could be running a firm within a firm.
Aside from the financial benefits the thing I like the most is the flexibility, being able to do the work when I want and being able to work from home. Instead of being restricted to a standard way of work, my normal working day is free to do what I want.
The flexibility of being a consultant allows me to take my son to nursery and to help out my wife while making sure I can keep on top of my work. If I want to take the kids out, I can as I am carrying around my emails conveniently on my phone.
Another attraction for consulting is that in some jobs you can end up being pigeon-holed into a niche area of law when you work for a firm, whereas I wanted to diversify and do all sorts of civil litigation cases. Making this switch to Taylor Rose has allowed me to do that.
If I had to give anybody advice about becoming a consultant I would tell them to go for it. There may be an initial lean period at the start, but if you put the work in you will get the results. The main thing is to keep going as you will reap the benefits both personally and financially.
If you’re thinking about becoming a Consultant Solicitor and would like to hear more about our programme, please get in touch by emailing consultantrecruitment@taylor-rose.co.uk or call 01733 865143.