How to make your 2025 Legal dreams come true!

You might be tired of hearing the three words ‘Happy New Year’ by now. But a brand-new year is the perfect time to focus on getting your career closer to where you might want it to be.  

Not only are firms looking to set new budgets for the year ahead, but now is the time for them to assess what they need going forward in terms of staffing and resources. So, whether you’re looking for a new role or progressing up that career ladder, we have some tips to help you make your dreams come true this new year.  

One key thing that can help you push forward in your career is purpose. Having a role where you can find a purpose that aligns with your values is key to helping you thrive. While you can be driven by a desire to have a great career and push yourself to the highest level, it is more motivating to do this in an environment and a vertical that you find motivating and rewarding. Whether it be family law, planning and environment, or tax and succession law, understanding your niche will help motivate you to get where you want to go. Of course, if you want to move forward in your career, you might have to have some difficult conversations. It is important not to shy away from these conversations: while you may not think so, having them without upsetting people is possible. Clarity is the key here – don't sugarcoat or be vague with people, as this can lead to misunderstandings and mistrust. Knowing how to handle these conversations will help you advocate for yourself and your ideas or be a good team leader who can handle conflict.  

Another important point to take on board is being authentic to yourself, while at the same time not oversharing. Research has shown that team leaders who allow themselves to show vulnerability and are more authentic to themselves have a greater degree of trust with their team. However, this is a double-edged sword – and this approach does have a potential pitfall. It is important to share only when it serves the task at hand and not to use it to seek approval or validation or, worse, for self-promotion. It’s also important to reflect on past decisions as well, both ones that worked out and those that didn’t, and try to understand why they didn’t. Self-assessment is the best way to grow yourself personally, and it can allow you to avoid the same mistakes when a similar project or situation arises again. Even if you write down a couple of small things you could improve upon a week, the effect will help you understand how to improve yourself and take yourself to the next level. Finally, one tip for those who feel like their career might have peaked: the middle of your career is not a point of diminishing returns – it can be a point to relaunch yourself. You now have so much more experience than you did when you were starting out in your career, and you can have the option to reframe your career as something different and more along the lines of what you want it to be. Be open to new possibilities and priorities, and you can still find what you are looking for.  

A new year offers people the chance to change what they are doing, especially if they are looking to move on in their careers from where they were last year. Some of the above tips can help to get you in the right frame of mind and help to build you up to take that next step, whatever that might be.