Its been said that if you spend all day in the kitchen, doing your best to be Gordon Ramsay, chances are you won’t end up enjoying the meal you’ve laboured to create.
Is it a bit like that with throwing a party? Organising my practice’s recent fifth birthday bash has given me cause to wonder.
Lawyers are accustomed to late nights and tense negotiations - but not usually when the issue is whether we have the appropriate range of canapés.
The fifth birthday is a milestone – for the business and for me personally. Many of my contemporaries - who I’m happy to say remain friends - are partners in some of the biggest law firms around - I wanted to celebrate going my own way, in my own style.
You remember all the risks and difficult points getting this far. Big decisions like upgrading to the offices I now have in the India Buildings six months into my start-up. Having a growing team five years later is something of which I’m very proud.
In larger organisations you’d have a whole department devoted to worrying about invites and getting the right vibe. Luckily what I do have is a dedicated team who really care about the business, and a secret weapon - my trainee Mark who used to run several successful restaurants including the Carriage Works, our chosen venue.
The guests – a cross section of Liverpool’s property scene. Even a few other lawyers, though it has to be said the younger barristers were the worst behaved. For entertainment a fire juggler (on stilts for most of the evening) and a sleight of hand conjurer- Salim , a former waiter who I met after several beers and a U2 concert in Rusholme curry house some years back.
I opted to remain sober for the evening. The hangover came none the less, albeit in the form of a cancelled holiday the following week. A necessity to catch up on time spent organising databases and issuing invites.
Was it worth it? I think so.
I’ve had to fight hard for my share of the market. Initially it felt like David and Goliath - taking on established rivals when it’s your reputation and future on the line, not just a figure on some larger firm’s balance sheet. But the reassurance of having so many supporting friends and peers left me feeling truly engrained in the fabric of Liverpool’s business community.
So it looks like we’re out of short trousers and into the longer version. There is after all a place for a niche firm in the market (I choose to call it boutique) as there is for the large firms which get bigger by the year and thankfully leave a vacuum for a more accessible service. Bring on the 10th anniversary.