Idin Sabahipour | Founder of LittleLaw

Idin Sabahipour didn’t set out to pursue a career in law. However, he discovered corporate law during his degree which changed his outlook. It was also during his time studying he began working on LittleLaw and developed his unique approach to sharing industry related news. We spoke to Idin about his time as a corporate lawyer and how LittleLaw has grown in recent years.

My initial goal was to pursue a career in finance or economics as I studied economics at university. I didn’t really enjoy it, so I left that degree and switched to law. At first I picked law because it seemed like a good, broad degree and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do as a career. But I learnt more about corporate law and found it interesting – I liked the idea of the responsibility you gained.

I think my background is a bit unusual for someone in law. I did Maths and Physics at A-level, while typically law students do English and History. Maybe it gives me a different perspective?

I started LittleLaw in the final year of my degree to solve a problem I had myself. I found it hard to stay updated with legal news and knew I needed to improve my commercial awareness. So, instead of passively reading the news (which I knew I’d get bored doing), I began writing news summaries. A few of my friends saw these summaries and wanted to read them, so I put them on a website and that was the start of LittleLaw.

My motivation for transitioning into media full time came because LittleLaw started to grow a lot bigger. We're up to 18,000 readers now and expect to hit 20,000 before the end of 2024. I wanted to see how big it could become, which is why I chose to put more time into it.

Looking back at my time with the University of Law I found learning from lecturers who’ve been lawyers themselves was so useful. It adds an extra layer of insight based on what they saw in the real world and that can help so much on your first day in the office.

I think the main skill aspiring corporate lawyers should develop is curiosity. As a junior lawyer, there’s a lot of technical things you won’t know, but by asking questions and understanding how your tasks fit into the bigger picture, you set yourself up to learn the technical aspects. Being curious and constantly seeking to understand why things are done a certain way will pave the way for your growth in corporate law.

I wouldn’t change a thing about my time as a lawyer. My training contract showed me how to work under pressure without letting quality slip, which has been so useful in what I’m doing now. As an associate, I built my confidence in leading others. Even though I’m not practising anymore, the things I learned along the way have shaped how I run LittleLaw now.

Some parts of media work are similar to being a corporate lawyer. Both roles are centred around written content and require clarity and accuracy. They also require hard work and can demand long hours. But there are a lot of differences. Running LittleLaw, it’s mainly just me and a few team members. In my legal role, you always had the support of a big team.

There’s also a lot of uncertainty in running a startup. When I was working in law, there were typically established methods to do things. Now, I’m constantly experimenting to find the best approach. This way can feel unsettling at times, but I enjoy it because I like learning new things.

My schedule varies depending on the day of the week. We usually post on Wednesdays, so Mondays and Tuesdays are focused on content, while Wednesdays and Thursdays are focused on subscriber growth and partner outreach. On Fridays, I’ll have meetings with our writer to discuss potential topics for next week’s newsletter.

Generally, my day starts around 7am when I go to the gym. Then I’m at my desk doing focused work from 9am to 1pm. After lunch, I spend the afternoon (2pm to 6pm) in meetings or doing outreach. In the evenings, if there’s anything I can do to help with subscriber growth, I tackle that. For example, we sometimes create resources for aspiring lawyers which we share on social media – this helps introduce new people to LittleLaw.

We just hired a new team member a few months ago, an amazing writer. Shoutout to Laura. Right now, we’ve also got campus ambassadors at 19 universities. I think we’re working pretty well with a lean team, and I don’t think we’ll expand much anytime soon.

My advice for anyone wishing to build their own media platform? Consistency. I’ve been running LittleLaw since 2018, with very few breaks. It only really took off at the end of 2023.

It’s important to make time for your hobbies – whatever they are. The time off studying ensures you’re more effective when you’re back on. Content creation can help your legal career if you approach it in the right way. For example, in the early days of LittleLaw when I was still a student, we ran a podcast. This gave me the ‘permission’ to reach out to lawyers and chat with them. The content was a reason for me to message them.

Finally, don’t worry so much about not having it all figured out. I still feel like I don’t have anything figured out, so I reckon that feeling never goes away.

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By Grant Longstaff. Published 20 December 2024.