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Expanding successfully in a post-COVID era
Having the same values and making organic decisions are key when starting and expanding a boutique law firm, according to the three directors at Karim & Nicol Lawyers.
Lauren Croft
When thinking about the next steps in their own careers, Carrie Nicol and Nadia Karim found themselves planning a business over lunches and eventually, starting their own firm. A year later, the opportunity arose for Michelle Karim to join the ranks and after all working together previously, the three of them jumped at the chance.
Speaking on The Boutique Lawyer Show, the trio of directors shared their wisdom on what it takes to go out on your own and expanding pre, during and post-COVID-19.
Knowing your market
Karim & Nicol has an office in Manly on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, an office on the Central Coast and are currently setting up a Byron Bay office. The three said that before expanding into new areas, ask why you’re interested in that particular area or expanding in general, then start to think about logistics.
Ms Nicol said that there are a few important questions to ask yourself, as well as being patient and realistic in terms of the number of clients and work in a new office.
“Is there a service gap? Is there a need for more professional services in that area? Because if there’s not, and clearly that’s going to be an issue in terms of getting work in that area,” she said.
Michelle Karim has moved up to the Central Coast office to focus solely on the high-demand services of the region and the trio visit Byron Bay regularly – Nadia Karim said that the firm saw an opportunity and ran with it.
“The decision to expand to Northern New South Wales I think was more opportunistic than anything else,” she said.
“We’re committed to long-term service delivery and we’ve taken a committed approach.
“But its growth is not limited to revenue diversification because there are other benefits of expanding into these new regions. There’s the opportunity of greater networking and relationship building, which is crucial to surviving in the legal industry in 2021.”
Going virtual
Expanding during and post-COVID-19 has been beneficial for Karim & Nicol as things become more virtual – even the courts.
“A lot of it has become virtual,” Nadia Karim said.
“And I hope that it doesn’t entirely disappear because it does mean that you can appear in a number of places at once. It does mean it is much more practical.
“Everybody’s really busy, not only with work, but their own lives. So it means that everybody is reachable all the time. And I think that’s really helpful.”
Ms Karim also mentioned that going virtual meant that you no longer need a fancy office to have a presence in the community.
“This post COVID era is such that, you don’t have to spend an exorbitant amount of money to expand your business. It’s no longer the day where you need to go and take out rent for a big office space or anything like that,” she added.
The firm does have a shared office space in Byron Bay, but Ms Nicol maintained that the best decisions for the firm have been those made organically and in response to new challenges – whether that be COVID-19 or a new market to expand in.
“All the decisions we’ve made in relation to our business thus far have been fairly organic and responsive to the situation,” she said.
Making a choice
When deciding whether to start their own firm, Ms Nicol said “it took a long time for us to convince ourselves that that was the right step” and to move away from the comradery of working in places like Legal Aid, where Ms Nicol and Nadia Karim met.
“It takes, I think, a lot of courage to move away from those places. But we decided that we would do it and we did it,” Ms Nicol said.
The three agreed that expanding was a big decision, but one that came easily to the firm – particularly when Michelle Karim joined.
“I recognized that Michelle could bring something that neither of us could. We each have areas that we’re passionate about or better at,” Nadia Karim said.
“What drew me to [Karim & Nicol] was that we all cared about demonstrating to our community that we care about the same thing that they do,” Michelle Karim added.
“I think for Karim & Nicol Lawyers, the advantages of such a transition significantly outweighed the disadvantages. We had the standard pros, we established by opening up two new offices, we established multiple revenue streams.”
Ms Nicol added that whenever Karim & Nicol reach a crossroads, the firm “makes the decision together based on the situation at the time.”
“We’re pretty intuitive about what our needs are and our business needs are and it tends to align. And so we just keep moving forward in that way,” she said.
The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Carrie Nicol, Nadia Karim and Michelle Karim, click below:
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Lauren Croft
Lauren is a journalist at Lawyers Weekly and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from Macleay College. Prior to joining Lawyers Weekly, she worked as a trade journalist for media and travel industry publications and Travel Weekly. Originally born in England, Lauren enjoys trying new bars and restaurants, attending music festivals and travelling. She is also a keen snowboarder and pre-pandemic, spent a season living in a French ski resort.
