Q&A with Amanda Fajerman, Engagement Manager at Barhead Solutions

Q&A with Amanda Fajerman

“[O]ne of my greatest tips to those applying for graduate positions or clerkships is to make sure that you put a variety of practice group preferences forward so you get exposed to as many practice groups as you can and see what you enjoy the most.”

By Anna Kretowicz (The Legal Forecast)

Certain students are in the midst of their ‘Summer 2’ clerkships while others are entering their penultimate year of Law School and considering whether to apply for clerkships in April / May 2022. This means that many law students are thinking about what it is that they really want to do post-uni. Some might have their sights firmly set on Big Law, some might be feeling unsure, but what’s most important is finding the right path for you.

We sat down (virtually) with Amanda Fajerman, Engagement Manager at Barhead Solutions, to discuss her career path and how she’s ended up in the legal technology and innovation sector. She provided a wealth of advice that’s applicable to, quite honestly, anyone, regardless of what stage you’re at in your career, and some especially handy tips at how to crack into New Law if you’re interested.

Amanda, could you tell us a bit about yourself?

My role as Engagement Manager at Barhead Solutions is to manage client accounts for Consensus, a contract lifecycle and matter management solution for procurement and in-house legal teams. It’s a bit of a sea change from previous roles I’ve had in the legal sector, but as I developed my skills in legal technology, I’ve honed in on Microsoft-based solutions for legal teams, which led me a role with a Microsoft Implementation Partner, Barhead Solutions.

Let’s zoom in on the start of your legal career. That looked pretty different from where you are now; did you have any idea that things would change so much for you?

I started off in a very traditional graduate position in one of the big law firms, and at that point in my career I was still very much thinking that a graduate position in Big Law was the natural next step after university, or even that it was the only acceptable career choice for me.

You often don’t have a lot of control over which practice group you rotate through, but it was those practice groups that had the biggest impact on where I ended up settling and therefore where I started my career. So, first off, one of my greatest tips to those applying for graduate positions or clerkships is to make sure that you put a variety of practice group preferences forward so you get exposed to as many practice groups as you can and see what you enjoy the most. I rotated through IT & IP and Litigation and eventually moved with my team to Construction. My biggest influences at that point were my mentor and the partner that I worked with, and ultimately those are the people that you will learn the most from.

So really it’s okay to feel like, as an early career lawyer or fresh graduate, you don’t have a 2-year or 5-year plan?

100%, it’s okay not to know. Its often one of the hardest things lawyers have to come to terms with- that sense of uncertainty. Throughout my entire career there have been points where I have had to accept uncertainty, like whether I would be offered a job and being faced with redundancy. But it's about having the confidence to say to yourself, ‘I know I will land on my feet eventually, and it's okay not to know how or when I’ll get there’. Your career is a bit like a tree: you’re going to jump from branch to branch, you might not be able to see the top, but as long as you’re moving in a direction and you’re enjoying what you’re doing, then that’s okay.

If you are particularly passionate about an area of law or organisation you want to work for, then absolutely pursue that. However, if you don’t, then my advice is to follow your interests and passions. One of my tips for those who don't know what they want to do is to read broadly and as widely as possible. Use LinkedIn, for example, as a way of saving posts and articles that you find really interesting and relevant, and then after you’ve been doing that for six or so months you can look back to the collection of posts and see if you can glean common themes, topics or interests that you’ve obviously been curious enough to read and learn more about.

It seems almost intuitive to say, “Follow what you’re interested in”, but how do you balance that with pressure from feeling like you have to do what everyone else is doing, or following what your mentors say?

There’s definitely a tension there. Ideally, you’ll have both good people to work for in an area that you enjoy, but it may not always work out that way. Maybe you love the practice area or love the people, but not other aspects of it. First, you need to have the insight to recognise that - when you have that, you then need to make some brave decisions about what you want to do not what others expect you to do.

That can be pretty scary to make that jump. Could you tell us about your own experiences when you’ve had to make those tough choices?

I’ve had three big career changes or moves. The first one was coming back from maternity leave in private practice. I was adamant before I left that it wasn’t going to change my commitment to work but I came back to work part-time; and while they were very supportive, I watched all my peers being promoted to Senior Associate and I was a few steps behind. That was a big identity shift for me and I had to readjust my expectations of what it meant to be “successful”.

But out of hard times came opportunities, and out of that situation I went on secondment to a client. That experience gave me insight into what it’s like on the “other side” of private practice. The hours were far more flexible and family-friendly, and I really enjoyed the experience of working with a team of people who weren’t all lawyers. The experience of working on the ‘client side’ ultimately helped me land my next job as an in-house lawyer.

These types of changes can happen at any time and more recently I was made redundant; again, not something that I had control over. That was a push that was quite frightening at the time, but there’s always some positive lining and the company provided outplacement support in the form of career coaching. I found that process really insightful and it helped me understand my strengths and what I wanted in my next role.

Would you say the main takeaway is to look at each opportunity as a learning experience?

Yes, and also the power of networks. Along the way, don’t think about connecting with people because they might be able to help you, but because of what you might be able to help them with at some point in their career. It becomes this mutually beneficial relationship; constantly think about who you can meet and learn about them, who they are, and connect with them on LinkedIn. You never know where you’ll come across them again.

But how do you actually network? It’s something that we’re encouraged to do right from day one at law school, but nobody ever really explains how to do it well.

Ask questions. Always ask more questions about the other person than talking about yourself. Engage with them on LinkedIn - like, share, comment on their posts. That will show them (and their network) that you’re an active contributor, as well as helping you build your own personal brand. When you eventually meet face-to-face, if you haven’t already, you’ve got that rapport because you’ve shown previous interest in their work.

To finish off, let’s focus on what you do now - legal tech - and how people might crack into it if they’re interested.

What I learned after moving through all those roles is that I’m more driven by helping legal teams with legal technology and process than actually giving legal advice. And I had to be really honest with myself about that, because ultimately in this role, I’m not acting in a legal capacity anymore.

The best way to get into legal tech is to use LinkedIn as a way to learn. Add people in your network, follow organisations - there are a lot of legal tech communities like Australian Legal Technology Association (ALTA), Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC),  Legal Hackers, Australian Cyber Law Institute, Digital Law Association, Australian Society for Computers and the Law, and the Legal Tech Product Channel. Also use hashtags like #legaltechnology and #legalinnovation to keep across relevant news, and you can set up Google Alerts for those phrases too.

Legal tech vendors like CheckBox, Josef, Neota and Microsoft also have a wealth of free training courses that you can do and get accreditation or certification in using their platforms. They’re great alternatives if you don’t have the means to do a legal tech course at university; they will give you a different approach to problem solving and differentiate you in job applications.

One last point is that even if you don't have any legal job experience, if you have a job in another industry - even if administrative - take initiative to show your interest in innovation or doing things more efficiently, e.g., design an intake form to streamline the data intake process for front desk calls. Then in an interview, you will be able to describe the problem, demonstrate out-of-the-box thinking, the process you went through, and the improvements that you made – even if it doesn’t relate to the legal industry. At the end of the day, scoring high marks in the Priestley 11 subjects isn’t going to get you as far as the broader skills you often don’t learn about at university.

Any final words of wisdom?

Imposter syndrome is very real, almost everyone experiences it. So don’t feel ashamed or scared if you’re feeling it. I’ve had to talk to myself and say, “you can do this, you’ve done it before, you can do it again”.

Finally, the last thing that I think is incredibly important is the values of the organisation that you’re going to work for. If you work for an organisation where the culture is aligned to you and your values, that’s the best fit, whatever you’re doing.