I was watching the unique and unusual opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics yesterday, set not in a stadium but along the banks of the Seine, and was struck by one comment from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach in his welcoming speech. He addressed all the assembled athletes by saying “This is the pinnacle of your Olympic journey. You have come to Paris as athletes. Now you are Olympians.” Some were from well organised and talented teams like France and the USA who will expect to win lots of medals, but others were from much smaller countries with far fewer competitors. However, they were all welcomed as a part of the Olympic family even though often after many years of training some will only participate and not succeed in winning gold, silver or bronze. Nevertheless, all the athletes are seen as a part of the same privileged fraternity.
It made me think about the parallel with professional practice and the challenges that involves. I recall that when I was first working in the City of London as a lawyer (in house but also as a part of a small private practice) some partners, particularly in large city law firms, had a tendency to look down on their in-house colleagues as somehow not of the same professional calibre or meriting the same professional recognition. This changed a bit as they came to realise who authorised their bills, but there remained a residual prejudice in my experience against lawyers in industry. Since then, I have had the privilege of being both a partner in two city law firms, and a senior in house lawyer in multinational companies in the energy and technology industries. Indeed, I moved from industry to private practice and then back again. I have come to realise that whilst the skill sets are to some extent different, and the working experience definitely is, there is simply no justification or rationale for saying one is “better” than the other.
It is also now generally recognised that as lawyers there is a clear and viable career choice to be made between working in a law firm and for an organisation in the public or private sectors. Indeed, now there is a plethora of advice as to which branch of the profession to follow and when. See for example this article Working in-house - how different is it from private practice? – “A key skill for the in-house lawyer is being able to explain the law succinctly in a business context, including verbally. This still requires a thorough understanding of the law and relevant issues while emphasising how the information is communicated. It’s necessary to capture attention and get quickly to the key points for the audience in question.”
Or this article In-house vs. Law firm. What's the difference? - “in house your only client is the business you work for, and you could cover anything from the small print on an employment contract or company policy, to navigating the legal intricacies of intellectual property or business procurement. You can become a part of the company and even shape its future.”
The same is true in other professions such as medicine where you can choose to specialise in one area such as surgery and aim to work as a consultant in a hospital or be a general practitioner. In the UK you can also choose between the public and private sectors. See this article about the US system Working at a hospital vs. private practice: What's right for you? which comments “And while you might start out as a new physician with a heavy call load, hospital employment frequently offers greater opportunities for career advancement, positioning you for increased responsibility and higher income in the future.”
From my experience however, the potential for prejudice can be far broader than that between different categories of the same profession. I have seen lawyers in both private practice and industry see themselves as somehow superior to other professionals such as commercial advisers, project managers, procurement advisers, financial colleagues and in particular salespeople. In my experience I have learnt so much from each of these diverse professionals – and you do not have to have a law degree to qualify as a professional. I have worked with commercial colleagues whose skill set in delivering and expanding services under a large customer contract was exemplary and way beyond my ability. I know project managers whose organisational skills and processes put us as lawyers (whether in private practice or in house) frankly to shame. Procurement teams develop the bedrock of many organisations by establishing cost effective contracts with all manner of suppliers on a global basis. And salespeople – they really get a lot of stick from other professional colleagues – cutting corners, accepting unnecessary risk etc. However, in reality without them the wheels of industry and commerce would not turn and there would often be no technology or energy or any other companies providing goods and services.
Of course, it is incumbent on us professionals, as it is with athletes to train hard, keep learning and follow the highest professional standards whatever discipline we follow. We owe this to ourselves, to our firms and our companies as well as more generally. The IOC Olympic values are “solidarity, equality and human dignity”. See this article Professionalism which says “professionalism involves consistently achieving high standards, both in the work you do and the way you behave” and suggests that “The eight core characteristics of professionalism are: Competence, Knowledge, Conscientiousness, Integrity, Respect, Emotional Intelligence, Appropriateness, and Confidence.”
So, as we all look forward to our summer holidays (this is reported to be the busiest weekend on the roads in the UK since summer 2016), whatever our skill set and wherever we choose to practice we are all professionals or Olympians if you like.
In any event before you know it, we will all have been replaced by some robotic AI and be able to spend all of our time on the beach!!
As the saying goes, "Professionalism is not the job you do, it's how you do the job."
It made me think about the parallel with professional practice and the challenges that involves. I recall that when I was first working in the City of London as a lawyer (in house but also as a part of a small private practice) some partners, particularly in large city law firms, had a tendency to look down on their in-house colleagues as somehow not of the same professional calibre or meriting the same professional recognition. This changed a bit as they came to realise who authorised their bills, but there remained a residual prejudice in my experience against lawyers in industry. Since then, I have had the privilege of being both a partner in two city law firms, and a senior in house lawyer in multinational companies in the energy and technology industries. Indeed, I moved from industry to private practice and then back again. I have come to realise that whilst the skill sets are to some extent different, and the working experience definitely is, there is simply no justification or rationale for saying one is “better” than the other.
It is also now generally recognised that as lawyers there is a clear and viable career choice to be made between working in a law firm and for an organisation in the public or private sectors. Indeed, now there is a plethora of advice as to which branch of the profession to follow and when. See for example this article Working in-house - how different is it from private practice? – “A key skill for the in-house lawyer is being able to explain the law succinctly in a business context, including verbally. This still requires a thorough understanding of the law and relevant issues while emphasising how the information is communicated. It’s necessary to capture attention and get quickly to the key points for the audience in question.”
Or this article In-house vs. Law firm. What's the difference? - “in house your only client is the business you work for, and you could cover anything from the small print on an employment contract or company policy, to navigating the legal intricacies of intellectual property or business procurement. You can become a part of the company and even shape its future.”
The same is true in other professions such as medicine where you can choose to specialise in one area such as surgery and aim to work as a consultant in a hospital or be a general practitioner. In the UK you can also choose between the public and private sectors. See this article about the US system Working at a hospital vs. private practice: What's right for you? which comments “And while you might start out as a new physician with a heavy call load, hospital employment frequently offers greater opportunities for career advancement, positioning you for increased responsibility and higher income in the future.”
From my experience however, the potential for prejudice can be far broader than that between different categories of the same profession. I have seen lawyers in both private practice and industry see themselves as somehow superior to other professionals such as commercial advisers, project managers, procurement advisers, financial colleagues and in particular salespeople. In my experience I have learnt so much from each of these diverse professionals – and you do not have to have a law degree to qualify as a professional. I have worked with commercial colleagues whose skill set in delivering and expanding services under a large customer contract was exemplary and way beyond my ability. I know project managers whose organisational skills and processes put us as lawyers (whether in private practice or in house) frankly to shame. Procurement teams develop the bedrock of many organisations by establishing cost effective contracts with all manner of suppliers on a global basis. And salespeople – they really get a lot of stick from other professional colleagues – cutting corners, accepting unnecessary risk etc. However, in reality without them the wheels of industry and commerce would not turn and there would often be no technology or energy or any other companies providing goods and services.
Of course, it is incumbent on us professionals, as it is with athletes to train hard, keep learning and follow the highest professional standards whatever discipline we follow. We owe this to ourselves, to our firms and our companies as well as more generally. The IOC Olympic values are “solidarity, equality and human dignity”. See this article Professionalism which says “professionalism involves consistently achieving high standards, both in the work you do and the way you behave” and suggests that “The eight core characteristics of professionalism are: Competence, Knowledge, Conscientiousness, Integrity, Respect, Emotional Intelligence, Appropriateness, and Confidence.”
So, as we all look forward to our summer holidays (this is reported to be the busiest weekend on the roads in the UK since summer 2016), whatever our skill set and wherever we choose to practice we are all professionals or Olympians if you like.
In any event before you know it, we will all have been replaced by some robotic AI and be able to spend all of our time on the beach!!
As the saying goes, "Professionalism is not the job you do, it's how you do the job."
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