How One Lawyer Turned Mockery Into a Business Model
Ben Thomson, LawFuel contributing editor
In a profession where “aggressive representation” is practically a sacred mantra, one UK solicitor has flipped the script by building his practice on, brace yourself, being nice to clients. He’s the Mr Nice Guy lawyer who built a whole business model on the concept. Unusual, huh?
Law blog Roll on Friday reported on Harry “Just Ask Harry!” Suleman and how he founded his eponymous firm after allegedly enduring ridicule from colleagues who viewed his client-friendly approach with the same suspicion normally reserved for opposing counsel bearing surprise settlement offers1.
His website welcomes visitors with a theatrical “ta-da” pose worthy of a magician pulling a favorable judgment out of his hat. The site chronicles his journey from idealistic lawyer to entrepreneurial nice-guy with all the drama of a legal bildungsroman.
“A long time ago, in a legal world far far away,” begins Suleman’s origin story, sounding less like a solicitor’s bio and more like the opening crawl to “Star Wars: The Ethics Awakening.”
He describes previous employers who viewed his “warmth and relationship-based approach as rebellious”—perhaps the gentlest rebellion in legal history since someone suggested casual Fridays at the Supreme Court.
While Suleman diplomatically avoids naming all culprits, he does reference his time at Lyons Davidson, where his insistence on “seeing clients where I could & adopting a very personal approach… sometimes didn’t go down very well.”
Now the boss of his own personal injury practice, Suleman’s website features a gallery of poses that would make a theater major blush, including reassuring images captioned “Can’t pay? No problem!” and “With you he’s like this!”
In a profession where “personable” often means “responds within 48 hours,” Suleman’s approach qualifies as revolutionary. Whether his nice-guy finish will be first or last remains to be seen, but at least he’s smiling in his legal work, which is more that can be said for many unravelling new AI tools to deliver fast and effective services to clients they barely see.
Go Harry, we say.
