In for the long-haul…and what a ride!
In a world in which long careers in one place are largely a thing of the past, Weightmans Stuart Whittle is marking 30 years with the firm. And he admits it may have been entirely un-planned but it’s nonetheless been hugely rewarding.
This is the start of my 30th year at Weightmans
As LinkedIn reminded me recently, I joined a small Liverpool law firm in September 1993 as a trainee solicitor (the first such cohort to be called that; prior to 1993 the term was “articled clerk”, from an era where you paid for the privilege of being trained as a solicitor). LinkedIn’s reminder has prompted me to take a moment to reflect, at this, the start of my 30th year of working life.
More for amusement, than to demonstrate any particular point, I dug out old photos. One was taken at my parents’ house on my first morning at work - in a two-sizes-too-big double-breasted suit, an impressively tasteless tie (which I still have). I had long hair (you don’t want to see) and my footwear consisted of cowboy boots.
A few weeks into the job the partners bravely deputised a second-year trainee to tell me I need to cut my hair and get some proper shoes.
Whilst practising law I was given many opportunities to learn skills beyond just being a lawyer by my then boss, Frank Maher who, when I joined, was the firm’s “IT partner”. As a trainee he sent me (and some others with mixed success) on a week-long Microsoft Access ‘95 course which started me off on my way in legal technology.
He also allowed me to develop that interest and attend further courses run by an offshoot of Liverpool University which resulted in my, somewhat accidentally, putting together what became the impetus for Weightmans’ first intranet.
A few years further on, again at Frank’s suggestion, I took a Masters Degree in IT at Liverpool University which lead in turn to an opportunity to involve myself in Weightmans’ IT which then, in turn, ended up with me designing, developing and rolling out a case management system across the firm and, learning the hard way, that you can’t fix a people and process problem by throwing technology at it.
I then spent five years running our IT department before taking on an operations director role for seven years with a place on the board and equity partnership off the back of it. I was then part of the project team working on Weightmans’ strategy which saw, in 2017, a fundamental reorganisation of the firm to enable it to meet the changing needs of clients and the market and a change in my role to business services and innovation director.
“Whilst one might feel staying with the same organisation for nearly 30 years suggests a distinct lack of imagination on my part, I have been very fortunate to have had many opportunities to develop my career and skills over the last thirty years.”
More latterly another change in role to chief technology and innovation officer has given me an opportunity to focus on building something new to enable us to capitalise on the successes we have had in developing new products and services for our existing and new clients.
Whilst one might feel that staying with the same organisation for nearly 30 years suggests a distinct lack of imagination on my part, the point of I’m keen to make is that I have been very fortunate to have had many opportunities to develop my career and skills over the last thirty years – opportunities I could not have even begun to contemplate when I started my career.
My career hasn’t been linear or planned. I didn’t set out 29 years ago to be anything in particular, let alone a board member. But when opportunities arose I took them. Every opportunity I took was a bit of a gamble, a dive in to the unknown, but I figured you tend to regret what you didn’t do more than the things you did. So, when I am asked why I have stayed with Weightmans for nigh on 30 years my answer is all down to the opportunities I have had and, through those opportunities, the ability to influence opportunities for others, particularly those wishing to follow a more non-traditional legal career.
And over the last 29 years those opportunities for me personally and within Weightmans generally, continue to expand most recently with the creation of our new product and innovation partner roles.
We are continuing to grow and it you want to join us and take advantage of the opportunities on offer, take a look at our current vacancies
I now have significantly more lines on my face (“weathered” as my mother-in-law delightfully describes it), the hair still there (albeit somewhat thinner), and the cowboy boots are, well, let’s not go there.
As I reflect on the past three decades, I can see the professional into which I’ve turned was always there but was perhaps hidden for a long time. But that’s the subject for a different post – one in which, if I’m asked, I’ll talk about some of the people who’ve made this such a great ride!