A new role at Legal Studio has been put in place to offer expert advice to struggling consultant lawyers.
Hannah Beko, who has three children, worked for a law firm where she was able to do consultancy work and soon started raking in the cash.
She bought a new car and house but quickly discovered she had all the symptoms of chronic stress.
Hannah said: “I wasn’t living the dream anymore, but I couldn’t afford to reduce my income because of buying my dream house! After investing in my own training, coaching, mentoring and business support groups, I started to learn how to create the business I wanted to run rather than giving it up as I’d expected I would.”
Hannah learned to delegate and started charging properly, as well getting rid of clients who failed to pay on time, whilst gradually imposing boundaries on her time, money and use of her expertise.
Now she’s using her knowledge to work alongside director Matt Dowell and solicitor Ian McCann at Legal Studio, where she will take on the new head of mission role.
She added: “I love learning from other business owners and wouldn’t have been able to achieve the life I have now without their support. I also realised that lawyers didn’t really know that such support existed, or where to reach out for it. I created various courses, trainings and qualified as a coach to support lawyers in firstly identifying and then going on to create the life and business that they want to have.”
Matt and Ian have wanted to create a place for consultant lawyers to call home for some time and they decided that their values aligned well with Hannah’s so it was an easy decision to join them and to grow Legal Studio in Leeds and Manchester.
Matt said: “We are delighted to have Hannah join us to help deliver on the Legal Studio brand promise of helping lawyers to enjoy work. Reflecting on my own personal motivations, top of the list for me at the moment are freedom, control and financial security. This is what we want to deliver for all of the Legal Studio family and I know that Hannah will help us deliver that.”
Ian added: “Legal Studio exists to help lawyers enjoy work. We’re honoured to have Hannah join us to further that mission. I can’t wait to work with Hannah to further support our team to build legal businesses and lives that they enjoy. I’m also particularly excited by the upcoming launch of the Legal Studio Academy which will empower our team, old and new, to do just that.”
The new academy will provide training to all the Legal Studio team and support them to make their business flourish but also the practical tools and skills to market their practice, find their ideal clients and do more of the work they really want to be doing.
Hannah’s mission since 2016 has been to change the culture in law so that stress isn’t just accepted as part and parcel of the job, and no one is leaving a career they trained for years to join, because they can’t reconcile work and life.
She’s also written a book called The Authentic Lawyer which also aims to help others struggling within the profession.
