David Salter, founder and director of the boutique translation company Linguistico, talks about his journey from solicitor to business owner.
Two years ago, David Salter was a Senior Associate at Allens Arthur Robinson in Sydney. Like most lawyers, he was a highly organised employee who spent his days negotiating settlements and advising clients. He enjoyed doing good work for his clients and had some great colleagues, but at heart he couldn’t see a future in the partnership chase, internal politics or in working punishing hours for the remainder of his career.
Finding a muse
Many lawyers enjoy the actual practice of law. There is something reassuring about having a set of rules to follow, and using those rules intelligently, and sometimes creatively, to find the best legal solution for your client.
However, not all of us become lawyers because of our love for the law alone. Financial reward, travel, status, the hope of winning partnership or a lack of confidence in our true talents can also influence our choice of career.
“Looking back,” admits David, “I think I became a lawyer because I didn’t really know what to do and certainly didn’t have the confidence or conviction to create a job for myself in languages. I love languages, I always have. But getting a law or business degree seemed like a more sensible thing to do. Peer and academic influences played a part in that I think. Before I knew it, I’d qualified and been a lawyer for five or six years already.”
If you find yourself in this situation, David believes the answer is to recognise that your heart isn’t in your legal career anymore, and then do something about it. It may take some time to realise which alternate vocation best suits your passions, or you might already know. Either way, you will find your legal experience an invaluable asset.
“Well-developed organisational and research skills are vital when running your own business,” explains David, “as are communication and negotiation skills and having a basic grasp of how businesses work, such as understanding budget processes and marketing. You can get exposure to all these areas as even a junior lawyer and it’s a great way to learn new skills as part of your job.”
“Being risk-averse, as most lawyers instinctively are, can help too. Although not generally judged as being key to an entrepreneur’s success, an awareness of risk and knowing how to protect the downside is crucial to developing the right structure for a new business.”
Identifying a niche
As well as giving you an easily transferable skill-set, your experience within the legal industry might also help you identify a niche for your new venture.
Being fluent in French, David was listed as a French-speaker on the language database at Eversheds when he was a UK lawyer and then at Allens Arthur Robinson in Sydney. Lawyers listed on these databases can often be asked to translate legal documents for their firms.
“It occurred to me that this practice was not necessarily cost-effective for either the client or the firm. Professional translators, especially those with a knowledge of legal terminology across different jurisdictions, are far more efficient at translating legal documents than lawyers-turned-translators.”
“That’s how I came to realise that there was a real need for a speedy yet precise translation service specifically aimed at lawyers.”
In fact, David believes that correctly identifying the market has been crucial to the success of Linguistico. He found a niche that no-one had considered, used his legal experience to carve out that niche, and only expanded once he had established himself in the market.
“Finding a unique angle for your business is imperative if you want to differentiate it from those of your competitors, but it’s equally important to stick with that differentiation until your expertise grows and word-of-mouth spreads. For that reason, it really helped that my chosen redirection sat, at least initially, on the outer periphery of legal practice.”
The same would be true for lawyers with different passions. An ex-lawyer with a talent for writing would find it easier to launch their writing career by first doing legal writing or editing. An ex-lawyer moving into events management or marketing would enjoy an easier transition by first organising events and marketing for law firms.
“Not only might you have contacts to help launch your chosen enterprise, but your legal experience would qualify you as being a good person for that work. Having once been a lawyer means you can understand exactly what your legal clients need.”
Once established, you can then branch out. Although David’s translation company Linguistico first specialised in legal translation, it now has three other core sectors: healthcare, insurance and financial translation. His head office is in Sydney and he will soon be opening a branch in Europe.
“But the growth and expansion has only been possible because of careful research…”
ÞNext time, David talks about the importance of researching your chosen market before launching a new career.