Emma Carey is a qualified solicitor and who practiced as a family solicitor, before eventually rising to be the head of MSB Solicitors’ family team. In 2018 she took over as MSB’s managing partner, which involves managing the all-service law firm that provides general legal needs for people in their personal lives and for businesses. Emma can be found on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ecareymsb/
- Can you tell us a little about your background and your company?
We are extremely proud that we represent the community that we serve, representing the most vulnerable people in society, often via Legal Aid, right up to ultra-high net worth individual clients. We also support startup businesses right the way through to multinational corporations.
I am homegrown in Liverpool. I went to school here, I went to university here and I’ve worked all my working life at MSB, which I joined in 1999 as the firm’s first female trainee. I then became the first female solicitor and subsequently the first female partner then the first female managing partner.
I started work when solicitors were like general practitioners who did a bit of everything, but from a very early stage I specialised in family work. At that time, the firm had 25 employees and I built the family team to be one of the biggest in the country.
- What inspired you to start your business?
Although I am not MSB’s founder, I have been an integral part of its growth. And development over the last five years.
I am a lawyer and my passion for the law and access to justice for everybody is what inspires me. I’m also a businesswoman and I’m passionate about economic and social justice for all. That desire drives me forward to make a law firm that is built on those values.
I struggled to get a training contract when I first qualified, so I’m driven to support the next generation of lawyers and to make sure we bring through people who are passionate and proud of the job they do and realise the importance of law.
I feel that as a business leader I am in a position of power to influence people and to make sure that we give back to the community and I need to use the platform that I’ve got.
- How did you create awareness for your brand?
We use a marketing agency who are more than someone we employ. They are an integral part of our organisation; they know who we are and they know what we believe in and the services we provide, so they are able to guide us.
It’s important for me that we have teams who believe in our culture and our services. Who better to market your company than the people who work for you? We work very much internally with people to ensure that they understand the brand and that they are proud of it.
- What strategies helped you secure funding and scale your business?
Our growth has been very organic. The investment in the next generation of lawyers has paid off. Even when we were a much smaller organisation, we always had a high percentage of trainees that we brought through and 34 of our current lawyers went down this route and stayed with us.
A large proportion of our work relies on public funding and Legal Aid, so we always need to stay abreast of changes on that front, and we are continually investing in IT and other infrastructure that ensures we can support our lawyers in the way they need us to.
- What have been your biggest successes so far?
I love watching people who I have trained come through and achieve the heights they reach in their own careers. Three people who joined MSB as personal assistants are now qualified lawyers, which is an amazing achievement for them.
Personally, I’m also very proud to become a leading individual in the Legal 500. I always doubted myself, so to get that recognition as a leading name in the area in which I practice was very pleasing.
- What challenges have you faced, and how did you overcome them?
It’s hard to move from being a lawyer to being a businesswoman, as I had to when I took on the role of managing partner. I went from being involved in cases to overseeing the firm and its strategy and its business development in areas of law that I had never practiced.
It could be quite lonely when the firm was smaller and I was the only female solicitor then the only female partner. It can still be lonely in my current role, but I am proud of the way the legal profession has tackled inequality and has made a firm commitment to being a diverse profession that is representative of our community in Liverpool.
When I first started my career journey, there were a lot of issues facing women in law but we now have a 50:50 profession, but there is still work to be done to make sure women can achieve their potential at higher positions. There is however still a lot we need to do in the LGBT field, the BAME community and those living with disabilities to make sure that the profession is truly representative.
- What are your plans for the future?
We have expanded substantially over the last 18 months, as we’ve opened offices in Birmingham, Manchester and Chester. We have no plans to open further offices; instead, we want to build on our presences and we want to ensure we retain our culture and go forward as one firm.
- What advice would you give to aspiring female entrepreneurs?
Simply to believe in themselves and surround themselves with people who will empower them and lift them up.
- What are your top three tips for entrepreneurial success?
I always say, “You’ve got two ears and one mouth for a reason”! You need to listen, and it’s so simple that so many people don’t.
I’d also say that it’s so important to value everyone and what they bring to an organisation. When I recruit trainee solicitors, I say that I want them to bring themselves and I want their personalities to shine through. I don’t want a hundred identikit solicitors.
Too often we try and create cultures where everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet. There are certain values that have to be fundamental, but people also need to be themselves.
- Who are five people who inspire you the most, and why?
Paul Corcoran, who is the CEO of our marketing agency Agent, is an inspiring person. He’s done things his own way and created a business which mirrors his own values that are dear to him. He also empowers people and supports them and wants them to do well.
Everyone says this, but it’s true: my mum. She’s a successful woman who has achieved a lot. She was the first girl from her community to go to university and her ethos in life has always been to support and empower other people.
Frances Molloy [who lost her son in a coach accident], Denise Bulger [whose toddler son James was murdered in 1993] and Gee Walker [whose son was killed in a racist murder in 2005] have all experienced the greatest loss any woman can suffer but have campaigned hard for change and to make sure other women do not have to experience the same.
Lastly, Nelson Mandela was prepared to give his life and liberty to stand up for what is right. We live in frightening times and now, similarly, history will judge us on how brave we are.
- What are your favourite inspirational or motivational quotes?
I like Richard Branson’s, when he said, “Exploit naivety while you’re still young enough to” and I think back to that all the time. I used to be too scared to ask questions!
- Where can our readers connect with you? (Please provide direct links to your Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and website.)
I am on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ecareymsb/
