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The mindset shift in moving into a partner position
For this newly appointed Hazelbrook Legal partner, the transition required a slight shift in his mindset in order to take his new role to the “next level”.
Lauren Croft
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Aabid Farouk is a partner at award-winning law firm Hazelbrook Legal. Speaking on a recent episode of The Boutique Lawyer Show, he reflected on the transition to partnership and overcoming challenges along the way.
Mr Farouk joined Hazelbrook Legal in 2017 and wasn’t originally sure if he wanted to go down the partnership track or go in-house – but he eventually became a partner in February this year.
While the transition to partner can be daunting, there are a number of things one can do to make the move a smooth one.
“It’s sort of where I find myself now, sort of being almost six months into the role and thinking about what I need to be doing in another six months to a year or two years’ time. So, for me personally, it’s how do I take everything to the next level, whether that be sort of your public profile in the market, that sort of business development aspect, and how you retain and grow clients. It’s really positioning yourself to make sure that you’re able to hit those further milestones,” Mr Farouk said.
“It’s not just about doing the legal work; it’s about getting new clients, maintaining those relationships, and internally, it’s about building your team and having a say on the strategy of the firm. You remain focused on getting those new clients in and building those existing clients, the relationships with those existing clients, and then having to think about internally how your team is going, whether you’ve got capacity to you’ve got the right skill set in your team to grow the team, to grow the business.”
This requires a mindset shift, which Mr Farouk said can be difficult – or not at all – depending on your personality.
“I was very much into lawyering and getting on the tools, and in all honesty, I did find that shift a bit unsettling at first. But I’ve come to enjoy it. I’ve come to sort of enjoy those other aspects and enjoy thinking about building out those client relationships, those financial aspects, your internal team,” he added.
“Given the transition, it can be difficult getting used to it, but I think that you find ways to sort of adapt and begin to enjoy it. And I certainly do enjoy it. And reflecting on the transition, I think I would say that if you look back to what I was doing as sort of a senior associate, I certainly am doing a little less of that sort of day-to-day legal work and more of that overall management and spend.”
In terms of reflections from his first few months of being a partner, Mr Farouk said it’s been rewarding to become a mentor and that his advice to other lawyers would be to “take a genuine interest” in their clients when becoming a partner.
“I find mentoring and helping junior lawyers quite rewarding. It’s really great to see when you can see a junior lawyer upskill themselves and do really well on a task and sort of build their professional capabilities. So that’s something that I really enjoy. And another aspect which I am really enjoying as well is just building those client relationships, getting to know clients and their businesses, and getting to know them on a professional and personal level as well,” he added.
“Ultimately, being a lawyer in this day and age means you’re not just advising on the law, but you’re there to solve [clients’] business or commercial problems. So, you need to be aware of that, and you need to put yourself in their shoes and take a genuine interest in your client and understand their business.”
The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Aabid Farouk, click below:
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.
