Our culture is your story - Sam Lawson
It was the merger with HBJ that initially brought me to Addleshaw Goddard. I spent my first two years post-qualification at HBJ in their Aberdeen office, and while the merger was not something I expected so early in my career, I immediately saw it as a huge opportunity.
It was exciting to think about how AG’s network of clients, resources and specialists might impact the type and scope of work I was doing. What was possible had suddenly changed. The merger process was excellent and no time was wasted when it came to welcoming us in. I recall one of my first proper interactions with the wider AG firm was being hosted in the London office with a client for a week of negotiations. We were AG immediately and felt very much part of the firm.
I had no fear of getting lost in a larger business, and my confidence in the firm grew as I worked with people who mentored and supported me with a consistent focus on my best interests. They helped ensure my internal profile in the firm was built properly and that I always knew what my next steps forward could be.
That transparency has been one of the many benefits of joining AG.
My experience is that there is an equality and clarity to all the processes that relate to your development and career.
I have benefitted from that, and I have been mentored and pushed at the right times and in the right ways. It has not always been comfortable, but when I look back I see how those insights have grown and developed me. I have always been grateful for the input.
Our profession is a competitive one, but I have never found myself under pressure to copy or emulate what anyone else is doing.
AG's model of being "the best you can be" has kept me mindful of achieving my own potential rather than worrying about what path someone else is on.
Joining HBJ was a brilliant beginning. As a newly qualified lawyer I loved the start-up nature of the Aberdeen office and the potential it held. With AG’s targets for 2030 I still feel that exciting push to grow, but I now think about that growth on a global scale.
Last week, I found myself travelling to our new Dublin office for the first time and, on the way, I was reading the announcement about a new office we have acquired in Poland.
