Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing – Or How to Grow your Practice when you can’t Hang out at the Club

Olufunke Adekoya, SAN
O Adekoya & Co
Lagos, Nigeria
Vice-Chair, IBA Section on Legal Practice, Practice Management and Technology Committee (10)

The legal press tells us that the percentage intake of women into Law School whether in Africa, America, Australia or Europe is steadily rising on a year-by-year basis. The entry class is now more representative of the demographics of our various countries, whether we speak of gender, race, colour, or tribe. The numbers of women who leave Law School and make a career in the legal profession is also on the increase. Women are going into private legal practice at the same rate as they enter government legal departments and private corporations.

Empirical evidence, however, shows clearly that women are not rising to the heights of private legal practice at the same rate as their men folk. We don’t make partner as quickly or as easily. In most law firms, an essential aspect of making the partner grade is the ability to bring in new clients, and then the ability to maintain a satisfactory relationship with those clients. Can we hang about the club after hours in the evening, making those contacts, which will assist client growth? Can we take clients to lunch, nay dinner, without askance looks and whisperings of an affair?

The extended family in Africa – both help and hindrance

In many African countries, a successful career woman, who is also still married, (happily or otherwise) is an aberration. The assumption is that the time constraints involved in nurturing a career make a successful domestic family life virtually impossible. Marriage in Africa involves a union of two families, not just the two persons concerned, and as a result being married in Africa is a full-time activity, How many times can you take the day off work because a husband’s cousin or nephew (who may not even live with you as part of your nuclear family), is graduating, getting married, celebrating the birth of a baby, travelling abroad or just ill? Perhaps this is the reason why so many of us, at least in the developing world, gradually find our way out of the private sector, into government service, where the time constraints inherent in playing our multifaceted roles as wife, mother, sister and in-law with their corresponding social obligations are understood by the powers that be.

In African countries we are lucky, in that the extended family system usually ensures that an extra set of hands is there to assist with the care of a new baby after the six weeks’ post maternity leave period have elapsed and the mother needs to go back to work. On many continents women take years off work to raise a family before returning to the workplace, and this leave of absence throws them off the career ladder for a time. Even where our childcare needs are fully met though, can we realistically put in the hours required by our (male) bosses to enable us to make partner grade? As a friend once stated, women would rise faster in their careers, if they also had wives to handle those mundane social tasks that take up so much profit earning/partner making time (dealing with family crises, attending school open days, buying birthday gifts, organising family trips etc).

Women-owned law firms – not always a solution

In frustration we set up our own law firms so that we can work at our own pace but even then the percentage of women-owned law firms remains so low. What is it we are still doing wrong? Or not doing at all?

Many women-owned firms are unable to reap the full financial rewards of the investment made in its establishment, because they do not sell their services as effectively as their men folk. We all qualified at the same Bar, and have the same legal qualifications. We are bound by the same rules of professional ethics. However, growing a legal practice takes a good amount of time and African society places certain time obligations on women that make effective competition difficult. Selling legal services involves generating a partnering relationship with a client, which sends a message that you are always available to solve legal problems. It means honouring out-of-work-time invitations from clients, to show that we are interested in their business. However, many of us have accepted the domestic carer role, in addition to our professional aspirations. On the African continent, the concept of placing our elderly in old peoples’ homes where they can receive domestic care and attention is not an option. Apart from husbands, children and siblings, we retain the obligation to care for our elderly.

Bring in time management

So how can we effectively balance these diverse home and work obligations in such a manner that neither aspect suffers? The answer is time management. Owning a law firm involves not just servicing the client’s needs but also running the business, and both take time and require expertise. If we do not have the expertise, we must hire it. We must first however realise that we need it. When I started my practice on a shoestring budget, I quickly discovered that since I had school age children, employing a driver was not a luxury. Between the choice of hiring a driver and depleting the lifespan of my car, or not having a driver and shortening my own lifespan, I won hands down! Within the office, employing competent accounting staff may seem like a luxury when we start up a practice, but we must know early on if we are covering our costs, and using our time and talents in the most cost effective way or not. In addition a wide range of practice management software is available that can assist in the management of our diaries, our cases and our offices. Personally I found that the installation of a simple off-the-shelf calendaring and case management software programme within the practice has ensured that I can meet deadlines, track potential client contacts, and programme work and family obligations so they don’t clash. Installing an accounting package also enabled me to keep track of costs and expenses, and avoid or abandon low –paying clients. Reliance on available software is the answer for a woman who wants to succeed in legal practice.

Efficient marketing

When women do manage to stay in private legal practice, we tend to get shunted into the traditional female practice areas of family law, probate and trusts, housing and employment law. How can we turn that to our benefit?

We can market our services by becoming proficient in the areas of law in which we are interested, and then making ourselves available as speakers at seminars, workshops, and even women’s groups. With women constituting an increasingly recognised and targeted part of the workforce, we constitute an untapped market for purchasing legal services; we have a captive audience that we need to exploit. As a significant percentage of the labour force, employment and workmen’s compensation issues are important areas we can effectively market in. We also require wills, divorces, investment advice and property acquisition and conveyancing. We can speak at women’s clubs, school events, conferences and workshops to market our selves. To do this though we need to squash those feelings of self-doubt that may arise when we are offered a new opportunity, either to speak at an event, or otherwise to contribute legal skills to a project. In my practice, I have found that the opportunity to address women’s lunch meetings and early evening groups on legal issues that are of particular interest to women, is a great opportunity to market my law firm.

Many times, the news of prospective work or an enquiry about legal representation circulates informally over dinner at a club or some other social event. It is true that we often cannot gain advancement by ‘hanging out with the boys’ after work at the club, the pub or the golf course due to family commitments so we don’t get a head start with such news; however, we can make better use of those daytime opportunities that we do have. We must realise that every social event is part of a lawyer's workday and an opportunity to sell legal services. So schedule to attend that book launch, valedictory service and lecture. Visibility pays off. Perhaps a male partner or colleague can do the wining and dining of clients. Or you can invite the client to a family meal at your home.

Providing an excellent service – be flexible

Having got the work, how do we do it? Remember that the easiest way to grow a practice is by providing such a good service that your clients sell you to others, or come back for more. We must employ adequate and competent staff. Will we eliminate competent female colleagues from our hiring arrangements, due to their family and domestic commitments?

Have we thought of part-time arrangements? If women could come into the office for a half day while children are at school, it could help to keep good staff who would otherwise have to take time off, if child care cannot be arranged. When I wanted to retain the services of a young woman lawyer who was raising a family, we agreed that she could work part-time (three days a week). It was a win-win situation as she had two full days with her family and I had her undivided attention for three days. Flexible working hours may also be a solution. At a time when many firms want to offer an international service, the availability of flexible working hours across time zones, may keep in legal practice those young mothers who would otherwise have to take years off work to raise a family. With increased access to technology, perhaps working from home is a viable alternative to losing that bright and upcoming female colleague who needs to take time off to nurse a sick relative. Must I (or my colleagues) sit at a desk to draft legal documents when I can do it from my laptop at home, and access my precedents from a remote server? It may be the only way to retain the services of our otherwise highly skilled women colleagues. Those of us who own our own firms ought to be able to set the pace in ensuring that these revised working conditions take root in the legal workplace. Maybe the use of flexible work time arrangements would catch on faster if we offered these alternatives to our female staff.

Becoming a mentor

Having established a legal practice and implemented far-reaching, women-friendly work procedures in the set-up, we then find ourselves in the role of mentors. In the developing countries, often we don’t have a choice. Relatively speaking, there are still so few senior women lawyers (at least in active legal practice) that the role model position is often thrust upon us, mainly by being the first few among the pack. We are seen as trailblazers, with the added burden of living under constant scrutiny of those who seek to follow in our footsteps. This in effect means you must do it right every time, win every case, continually gain new clients and increase your business, or else it would be termed that ‘the profession has failed women’ or, worse still, ‘the woman has failed the profession’. Every career decision you take may have an effect on those who aspire to join.

I have a T-shirt which boldly states: ‘To be a career woman, you have to look like a lady, act like a man, and work like a dog’! If this actually defines the life of a woman lawyer, isn’t it a surprise that more of us have not suffered nervous breakdowns?

Although the percentage intake of women who chose to make a career in the legal profession is increasing annually, women are not rising to the heights of private legal practice at the same rate as men. An essential aspect of promotion within a firm is the ability to bring in new clients, however the extended family obligations of African societies have increased the domestic obligations of women lawyers. Resulting time constraints have made it difficult for women to compete effectively for legal work and market their legal skills, even within women-owned law firms.

Women constitute a major segment of the legal services market and should be specifically targeted by women-owned law firms. Effective use of social occasions as opportunities to market legal services must be also made. In addition, proper time management and adequate use of office management software will assist women to effectively balance their diverse home and work obligations. Part-time working arrangements and flexible working hours may also be a solution. Working from home is a viable alternative.

Senior women lawyers may then find themselves acting as mentors to women following on in the profession.