BusinessLive sat down for a short Q&A with dealmaker Jabad Jaigirdar, renowned for being one of the leading corporate/M&A lawyers, to explore his perspective on a range of topics.
Jabad launched Newcastle-based commercial law firm JLF in 2020. The business has recently established a central London office in addition to its Bank House headquarters. Last year he launched a £17,500 annual bursary to help students from underrepresented backgrounds to study at the prestigious University of Cambridge, and ultimately follow law careers.
Q. What was your first job, and how much did it pay?
Working part-time back of house at the family restaurant as a kitchen porter, which included washing pots and pans, and peeling onions and potatoes. My dad was a tough negotiator, he offered a flat rate of £15 per night, or sometimes chicken tikka, chips and fried egg in lieu of remuneration.
Q. What is the best advice or support you’ve been given in business?
Growing up in a family business environment, this experience was transformative on several fronts, the toolkit and skills I was developing would allow me to be a founder of my own business, a law firm that specialises in advising entrepreneurs.
Q. What are the main changes you’ve seen in your business/sector, and what are the challenges you’re facing?
Embracing technology and innovation at law firms has been a key policy shift for the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the body that regulates solicitors in England and Wales. A recent survey by the University of Oxford found that when it comes to using legal technology – such as automated documents, interactive websites and artificial intelligence – just over a third (37%) of law firms in the survey said they were already using legal technology, with a further 24% planned to do so in the future.
There’s no question the pandemic has massively accelerated the rate of digitisation, and there is increasingly more appetite amongst law firms of all sizes to invest heavily in digital transformation to improve service quality, improve efficiency, and allow staff to work more flexibly.
Q. What would your dream job be?
My current job! Conversely, being self-employed in the legal industry never crossed my mind, so, I never found myself imagining life as one. It was when leaving an international law firm and joining a boutique firm that I became very active in an entrepreneurial sense: having to think about winning new clients, scaling the business, and recruiting talent. As lawyers, we are problem solvers, and being a self-employed lawyer forces you to quickly grasp the essence of problem solving: structuring, prioritising, articulating and executing.
Q. What advice would you give to someone starting out a career in your sector?
“Have self-belief, and ditch perfectionism,” is a great piece of advice I received from a supervisor during my training contract. Perfectionists are slow-paced when it comes to checking tasks off their to-do lists. As a result, things rarely get past the drawing board. Work keeps piling up, and you have to deal with higher stress levels. This not only hinders your professional growth, but it also disrupts your work-life balance. The solution? You have to keep the needle moving. This is what that advice taught me, and I haven’t stopped since.
Q. What makes the North East a good place to do business?
The calibre of clients JLF services from its North East headquarters puts you at the sharp end of the economy, and reflects the full spectrum of what our region has to offer, from manufacturing leaders echoing our industrial history to pioneers of cutting-edge cyber security and technology. The North East is fertile ground for owner-managed businesses, from start-ups through to captains of industry, so it is no surprise that we are seeing more top-100 law firms by revenue setting up in the region, including a magic circle law firm.
Q. How important is it for business to play a role in society?
Company leaders are not only leaders of business, but leaders within society. Without employers and law firms making a conscious effort to create meaningful change, Law will remain an industry with an outdated public perception. At JLF, we are proud to have a majority female workforce with a particular focus on graduate recruitment- we are creating tomorrow’s leaders today, and we are doing it in-house. The only way to build a stronger society is from the ground up, and it is essential that business leaders take the initiative to lead by example and make the shifts in the short term that will ultimately foster net progression.
Q. Outside of work, what are you really good at?
With my family business background, trying new food and cooking is something I enjoy, and like doing in my spare time – although I’m disappointed to report I still can’t make anything as good as the chicken tikka, chips and fried egg my dad would pay me with.
Q. Who would play you in a film about your life?
It would have to be someone with the same hair, so Vin Diesel or Jason Statham are the obvious choices, they’d just have to top-up on their tan first.
Q. Which three people would you invite to a dinner party, and why?
I’d only pick two: my late dad and mum, because they were my first inspiration, and continue to be my role models. What is best in me, I owe to them.
