Lawyer Story: Sharon Playford

Media Law Partner Sharon Playford shares her experience as a consultant solicitor with Excello Law.

Rather than private practice, my background was in-house. I trained in the legal department at the Daily Telegraph, where I qualified and spent 11 years. After my second daughter was born in 2009, I moved on to a part-time role in the legal department of a group of marketing and communications agencies. Around about that time I became increasingly aware of the changes taking place in the legal industry and by 2012, I was speaking with some of the earliest-established fee-share firms.

Excello were pursuing a very different and innovative way of doing things. After a conversation with George Bisnought I became convinced Excello was the right fit for me despite having never worked in private practice before.

I didn’t have a client following as such, but I did have a very good professional network. So I put together a business plan for how that network could help me generate clients, and I talked that through with George and Jo Losty. I liked the idea that I would be left to my own devices to build my practice my way, but with support where I needed it. I haven’t looked back since and I now work solely as a consultant.

A quality network of peers

From the start working at Excello felt like a good middle ground between my previous roles and being part of a large firm. You get the benefit of closeness with your client, but you also get your independence in how you do things.

My relationship with George and Jo has been great from the start – they are the firm’s management but they feel more like encouraging, approachable friends than anything else. Anytime I’ve wanted to raise something they’ll respond very promptly.

The calibre of the lawyers across the board at Excello is very high. The firm is obviously selective in who they choose to join, and everyone’s had a good career either in-house or at a well-known private practice firm. They’re here because they want to do the work but without the bureaucracy of a traditional legal business.

When I joined there were only 20 or so lawyers here… now we’re at more than 250. It’s a much bigger firm but I’ve got to know many people over the years and there are good opportunities to build internal relationships with the events Excello puts on.

I work from the London office quite regularly, and through meetings there and virtually you quickly get to know who will be good a choice for referrals. I’m a quite specialist media lawyer and many of my clients might need corporate, employment or real estate advice. Every lawyer here is at a high enough quality, and you can trust that, but you also come to understand who the right personality will be fit for each of your clients. In many cases the clients I’ve referred will go on to instruct those same lawyers again and again.

Looking the other way around, I’ve also received referrals and that process has always worked well. My colleagues have grown to understand my niche and I’ve picked up a few more great clients from referrals sent within Excello.

Support to get you started

Coming from an in-house background there was definitely a steep learning curve, in terms of a case management system and time recording in particular. All of the training I requested was spot on and if I had a question there was always someone on the end of the phone or an email.

The Excello 360 team are great, they pick up a lot of the admin and save me a lot of time as someone working for myself. They’ll do pretty much anything you send their way efficiently. Compliance similarly are there to answer any questions, they make everything straightforward. We’ve also got a great Marketing team, who heavily promote when I do anything public-facing like my recent AI podcast. I should probably make more use of those opportunities!

I do feel like I’m working in-house for many of my clients, and there’s no overbearing management hanging over what I do – there are no requirements in terms of how or how much I work. I’m left to my own devices to manage my own client relationships how I see fit.

When I began building my client base, I took a measured approach rather than rushing or panicking, allowing it to grow organically. I had a strong network of contacts across the media and creative sectors, and I made sure they knew I was available to provide legal services through Excello. Before long, that began to pay dividends. I am lucky as I get to do a lot of repeat work for the clients I’ve built good relationships with, sometimes over the course of many years. Growing that client following from scratch is definitely doable!

There’s no substitute for happiness

What’s surprised me most is how being in ‘private practice’ at Excello simply feels like a collegiate group of people all practicing law. We’re all doing our own work for our own reasons, the way we want to do it. There’s no competition and from the beginning it has been a pleasure to work here.

I get approached all the time by other fee-share firms, and my response is always the same: “Why would I want to move?” I don’t see any benefits offered elsewhere that could convince me as there’s no substitute for being happy in your job.

If you’re interested in making this change, think about your network and how they might help you build and expand your client base. Speak to Excello lawyers who’ve been in a similar position to you, so you can learn from their experiences. It’s a really good insight, especially if you go outside your practice area and speak to impartial lawyers who can give an honest view.

The people who join Excello tend to stay, because it’s a model that just works.