Articles From the Team
Charity begins at home
The Christmas season in the legal world is in full swing and with that brings an array of black tie and fancy functions as well as a large number of awards dinners which celebrate (quite rightly) the varying successes of law firms, businesses and key individuals in the North West legal and business communities.
As reported by Louisa Phillips last week saw the ever popular Insider Dealmakers awards in Manchester (http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/north-west/128295-richard-hughes-named-north-wests-top-dealmaker ) charting the success of the likes of Pinsent Masons, DLA, DWF, Shoosmiths, Eversheds, Gateley among others. Also last week saw the ever popular C&I In House Awards (which BCL also sponsored alongside Pannone Corporate) and this week we have seen the JCI Manchester Young Talent awards (http://www.mytawards.co.uk/ ).
As well as being the centre piece for celebrating young and old talent in the Manchester and North West legal market it is often the case that the events will have a key charity partner who will benefit from the, often, very generous audience from simple donations to tenacious bidding for auction items kindly donated by sponsoring parties.
The Manchester legal community is always strong in providing key support to a range of charities and BCL Legal are always keen to play their part from small to large whether providing prizes to law firms for inward facing auctions (this year we are proud to have supported DWF and Shoosmiths) to large contributions – including an extravagantly successful bid to secure an auction prize of a trip to watch the filming of Countdown with one of Rachel Riley’s dresses thrown it (It wasn’t me that bid, honest).
Which brings me on to the point of my blog. Charity is manifest in people putting the interests of others ahead of themselves and is an inherently noble quality and can, without question, be enriching to the soul. Within law firms the idea of working for the team is also hugely beneficial and those law firms that operate with a collegiate and supportive approach are often those that prosper.
What must never be forgotten is what sits at the heart of that collective success and that is you. If you are working hard and the rest of your team is too then you are in it together and that is a good thing. However, if you are working hard and others aren’t and equally you aren’t being rewarded or promoted for doing so, that is not. When all is said and done, you must always remember that it is your career and you are the driving force that sits behind it. On this occasion, it is ok to be selfish.
When it comes to your career, progression and work well-being, Charity really does begin at home so for a confidential discussion please do drop me a line.