To Young Advocates: The Brief that Can End Your Practice Before it Starts

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When you are a young advocate building your practice, getting a new instruction can feel like a small victory.

The phone rings. A client walks into the office.

Someone has heard your name and wants you to handle a matter.

At a time when you are trying to build a client base, pay the rent, meet your overheads and establish yourself at the Bar, the instinct is often to say yes. And sometimes, saying yes is exactly what you need to do.

But there is another side to building a practice that young advocates must learn early:

You cannot build a successful firm simply by learning how to get clients. You must also learn how to choose them.

Not every instruction is good for your practice. Some matters may be difficult but worthwhile. They may stretch your skills, teach you the practical side of advocacy and help build your reputation.

But there are other matters where the difficulty is not the legal problem.

The difficulty is the client, the history of the matter, the documents, the money, the conflict, or the instructions themselves.

Those are the briefs you must learn to recognise before you accept them.

The danger is that when you are starting out, the warning signs can be easy to ignore.

You may tell yourself that you need the fee. You may think you can sort out the problem later. You may believe that because the client is offering good money, the risk must be worth taking.

Sometimes, by the time you discover the real problem, you are already on the record.

And then you are no longer dealing with simply a difficult brief. You are dealing with a problem that can consume your time, damage your reputation, expose you to professional complaints, create conflicts, or put the practice you have worked so hard to build at risk.

That is why one of the most important lessons for a young advocate is this: Learning when to say no is part of learning how to practise law.

You need the courage to take on difficult work. But you also need the judgment to recognise dangerous work.

The difficult brief can make you a better advocate. The wrong brief can end your practice before it starts. And sometimes the warning signs are sitting right there in the file before you even accept it.

The Most Dangerous Type of a Brief: The Serial Mover.

The Serial Mover: A Brief That Should Make a Young Advocate Pause

One of the most dangerous briefs a fresh firm owner can take is the brief brought by what I call the serial mover. We call them serial movers.

The file has three or four endorsements. Each advocate has written: ” We have ceased acting.”

Why they keep changing is often fee hopping: they don’t pay, the advocate withdraws, they find a cheaper one, then they don’t pay him too.

Sometimes it is control, where they want to write pleadings themselves, and when you refuse, they say you are incompetent and leave.

Sometimes it is forum shopping for advice where they go from advocate to advocate asking, can I win? until someone tells them what they want to hear.

Sometimes it is hiding facts, where they tell each advocate only half the story and when you discover the other half mid-trial, you have to withdraw.

And sometimes they enjoy the case, especially in succession and family matters, where the case is their life, and they don’t want it to end.

Why The Serial Mover Is Dangerous

Why it is dangerous for your firm is clear. High risk of a complaint.

You inherit all mistakes of the previous three advocates, but the court and client blame you for the delay. Nonpayment is almost guaranteed. They already owe three other firms.

And it drains your mental energy.

Before You Take The Brief: Do The Five-minute Check

Ask the prospective clients for all previous pleadings, and if they say, ” My advocate refused to give me the file”, that is a red flag. Call that advocate.

Ask why they left the last advocate. If they abuse every advocate before you, you will be next. Check fee status and ask: did you clear your last advocate’s fees, and do you have a receipt? If no, ask for fees in advance; full disbursements upfront. Google the client and check eFiling to see how many cases and how many advocates.

And set boundaries in writing with a retainer that says scope, fee, communication hours, and that you can withdraw if instructions change.

My advice for fresh firm owners is never to take a serial mover on a post-pay basis. If they truly value you breaking the cycle, they will pay upfront.

The Brief That Can End Your Practice Before It Starts…

That is the real brief no one wants. One file can take you to the Disciplinary Tribunal. Not because you are a bad advocate, but because you took the wrong client or cut the wrong corner.

1. THE CLIENT WITH NO LOCUS

There is the client with no locus but big money. Someone wants you to sue over land that is not theirs, a company that is not theirs, an estate they are not a beneficiary of.

They pay well upfront. You file. Later you discover they forged the title. Now you are not just an advocate – you are a co-conspirator.

Firm owner rule is: never file a land or company matter without original documents and a search done by your firm, not documents supplied by the client.

2. THE “JUST HOLD THIS MONEY” BRIEF

There is the just hold this money brief.

Client says, receive five million for me; I will tell you where to send it. No sale agreement, no underlying transaction you verified. You handle it through the client account.

Next thing, it is money laundering or proceeds of crime or property fraud where you are the conduit.

The Tribunal calls it facilitating fraud and breach of client account rules.

No money passes through a client account without a clear, documented legal transaction you have independently verified.

3. THE BACKDATING REQUEST

There is the backdating request.

I just need you to file an affidavit that I was your client since January.

Or: Can you backdate the sale agreement to before the caveat? That one signature can cost you your practising certificate.

4. THE CONFLICT-OF-INTEREST BRIEF

There is the brief with two clients on both sides. Your old client is the landlord; the new walk-in is the tenant fighting the same landlord.

Or you acted for a husband in a company matter; now the wife wants you to file for divorce and wants company assets. You think you can manage it; you can be neutral.

The Tribunal calls it a conflict of interest.

5. THE BRIEF WHERE YOU BECOME A WITNESS

There is the brief where you become a witness.

Client wants you to file an affidavit and say you were there; you saw us sign.

Or you draft an agreement, and later you are asked to attest and then to testify about execution.

Once you are a witness, you cannot be an advocate in that matter.

How Fresh Owners Protect Themselves

How fresh owners protect themselves is simple.

Retainer letter for every file, even for your uncle.

Fee note and receipt to prove you did not overcharge or steal.

Never receive money without writing to the client where it came from and where it is going.

If the client refuses to give documents, refuses to pay upfront, pressures you to hurry and just file, that is your cue to say no.

For a young owner, saying no to one dangerous brief is saying yes to your next ten years of practice.

My Final Word…

When you are building a young firm, there is a temptation to believe that every instruction is an opportunity. It is not.

Some briefs will test your skills. Some will build your reputation.

And some will test whether you have the courage to protect the practice you are trying to build.

There is nothing unprofessional about saying no to a client whose instructions cannot be properly verified.

There is nothing weak about insisting on a retainer, proper documentation, clear fees and clear boundaries.

And there is nothing wrong with walking away when accepting a matter could put your practising certificate, your reputation or your future at risk.

The young advocate who learns to say yes to opportunity and no to danger is not limiting the practice. They are building it.

Your name is your greatest professional asset. Your practising certificate is not just a document on the wall.

Your reputation is built one file at a time. Protect all three.

The brief that pays the most is not necessarily the brief that serves your firm.

Sometimes the most valuable decision you will make as a young firm owner is not taking the instruction.

So, before you say yes to the next client who walks through your door, pause.

Ask for the documents. Ask the questions. Check the history. Do the conflict check.

Understand the money. Put the instructions in writing.

And if something does not feel right, give yourself permission to say:

“I cannot take this brief.”

Because building a successful legal practice is not only about knowing which matters to take.

It is also about knowing which matters to leave behind.

Protect your name. Protect your practice. Protect your future.

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