Unshackled from law firm ownership

January 25, 2023
Rashmi Dubé

Partner

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Rashmi Dube is a Litigation & Business Advisor with over 25 years’ experience as a lawyer and entrepreneur.

She supports companies and directors during complex deals, negotiations and disputes, and provides trusted counsel to senior executives across a wide range of sectors.

Rashmi owned her own business for over 7 years. Whilst it was highly successful, she found that the additional compliance administration burden placed on her was made it hard to allow her to enjoy what she loved doing, working with clients.

Here she discusses the benefits of working at gunnercooke, where operational and administrative elements are taken care of centrally, giving Partners more time to focus on their clients, their business and themselves.

Absolute freedom

Being the owner of a law firm creates substantial additional workloads which often impact on business development, fee earning and your personal time.

gunnercooke provides entrepreneurial lawyers with an operating framework where back office and administrative tasks are managed centrally by a highly experienced team of professionals. This allows you to focus on building the type of business and life you want.

“My lifestyle has changed considerably since I joined gunnercooke.

“When I had my own law firm you would have thought I’d had the freedom to do anything and take any direction I wanted…but I was still tied to a variety of things.

“At gunnercooke I now choose when I want to work, with whom I’d like to work, and how I want to work.

“Work now fits into my life and not the other way round.

“I can’t express my gratitude enough to the support team. They’re just wonderful, very helpful people who understand what I need and how they can help me achieve it.

“It’s genuinely an amazing, life-changing experience being at gunnercooke.”

Establishing a team

Each Partner at gunnercooke runs their own practice and can hire their own employees to support their growth aspirations.

gunnercooke’s specialist in-house recruiters have a wealth of experience helping to build collegiate teams, providing as much or as little assistance as required during the process.  

Unlike traditional law firms, Partners don’t have a rigid structure to follow and are empowered to follow their own vision and business plan when it comes to team building.

It means that teams within gunnercooke are extremely diverse, happy and ultimately more successful.  

“One of things I didn’t anticipate with gunnercooke was the ability to grow my practice and my own team. That’s been a journey in itself.

“I brought a few people from my previous business with me when I first joined, and then I’ve hired and added to that team.

“By tapping into the expertise of people like head of recruitment Chris Ball and his colleagues I’ve been able to identify the best candidates.”

Walking in to an established referral network

The ability to quickly access highly-experienced, entrepreneurial lawyers across the breadth of gunnercooke’s practice areas is a strong draw for clients.

This has created a robust internal referral network and sees Partners and practices routinely share and collaborate on client briefs.

Partners also receive [five] per cent of future billable fees from any new successful referral to another Partner within the firm…making onward referral a tangible benefit.

“What my clients love about me being at gunnercooke is the ability to do a one-stop shop.

“We have Partners with experience and specialisms in every sector, and they love that we can mobilise and adapt quickly to meet any of their needs.

“In addition to legal services they can access Operational Partners who can assist with the running of their day-to-day businesses.

“I’ve also been able to grow my practice by working with other Partners in gunnercooke who have opened so many doors.

“Everyone looks to cross-refer at every available opportunity as it’s mutually beneficial for all.”

Considering establishing your own practice at gunnercooke?

Partners often say they wish they’d joined gunnercooke sooner because they now have a better work-life balance, enjoy a refreshing culture and can innovate outside the confines of a traditional law firm.

“I genuinely love being at gunnercooke. I love all of it.

“Working with other Partners is brilliant as they are so lovely and collaborative, and the general ambience is amazing and inclusive.

“Work fits in around your life and we have so much fun. We are not a traditional firm in any way shape or form. I know so many firms say that…but in this case it’s true!

“We see things differently and we take care of one another. We also extend that to the most vulnerable in society through the gunnercooke foundation which works with other charitable organisations to help them reach as many people as possible.

“And gunnercooke employees frequently set time aside within their working week to support the foundation because it’s close to their heart.

“It’s just one big happy team, we all look after each other, and we all work very well together.”