This is part 3 of a 3 part guest blog by Nicky Richmond.
Nicky combines being a joint managing partner for Brecher with being a restaurant critic, and is a property and property finance lawyer with over 25 years’ experience. She is The Food Judge and writes a regular column for The Lawyer magazine. As a Foodie myself as you can see from our food themed LLClub web site, I am inspired!
In case you missed them, here are the links to part 1 & 2.
Part 1:
https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/05/16/an-edible-portfolio-career-1/
Part 2
https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/06/04/the-food-judge-nicky-richmond-2/
The rest of this blog are in Nicky’s own words.
Who or what helps you to manage your portfolio career?
No-one helps me to manage my portfolio career, but having a supportive group of partners in my firm who appreciate the good publicity that can come with raising the profile of any individual partner whether by way of restaurant reviews, opinion pieces or being involved with charities.
Not having to go through endless layers of bureaucracy to get my pieces approved is also a help and being an owner of the business means that I have more leeway than lawyers in larger firms where they may not feel entirely comfortable with a lawyer actually having an opinion.
How do you approach marketing your portfolio career?
In terms of law, through the conventional channels, attending industry events and writing in the legal and professional press. For the restaurant side, Twitter has been a great source of networking and contacts.
What if any, is the personal brand used for your portfolio career?
The Food Judge is my brand for the food blog. In general, my approach is straightforward advice with a sense of humour, whether it be legal/restaurant/charity work
What skills/experience/qualities would you say lawyers possess which makes them well suited to having a portfolio career?
Lawyers can work to a deadline, they are task driven, self-motivated, and having an outside life, in my view, makes them better lawyers
What advice would you give to give to someone considering a portfolio career?
Choose to spend your time on something you love and which makes you feel good about yourself
Your top 5 tips about portfolio careers from having one yourself?
1. Don’t be scared of trying something new
2. Put your head above the parapet – it doesn’t matter if it fails
3. Don’t expect instant success
4. Ask for help
5. Believe in yourself
Also – don’t wait until you have been in the law 25 years, like me, try something new. I look back and regret all that time I spent in the office at weekends or until silly hours of the night. There are times when that is unavoidable but if I’m honest with myself, I am allowed the job to take over and if I had had other interests/commitments earlier on, I may not have committed so much time to it and I would have had a more balanced and no doubt more enjoyable life.
Very few law firms will tell you that you are working too hard – you need to decide what is too much and how much you are prepared to give to the day job, they certainly won’t decide for you.
Allow yourself to do something for yourself that you enjoy.
More about Nicky Richmond
Nicky Richmond, Joint Managing Partner, Brecher:
http://www.brecher.co.uk/people/nicky-richmond/
The Food Judge – never knowingly underfed.
http://thefoodjudge.com/
Blog – Not Entirely Legal
http://strictlylegal.me/author/nickyrichmond/
More about portfolio careers:
Could a portfolio career give you the variety you seek? Download our free report ‘Discover Portfolio Careers’ and find out:
http://www.llclub.org/discover-portfolio-careers/