Protégé: From the Olympics stage to legal success

From placing seventh in taekwondo at the Rio Olympics to boldly launching his own law firm, Hayder Shkara shares his anything but ordinary path into the legal profession.

Speaking on a recent episode of The Protégé Podcast, host Grace Robbie speaks with Hayder Shkara, the principal of Justice Family Lawyers, who admits that while he has a fondness for the TV show, Suits, his true passion for law was inspired by his grandfather – a respected judge in Iraq who championed justice for the vulnerable. He shares how, at just 10 years old, watching the Sydney Olympic Games ignited a dream to one day represent his country on the world stage in taekwondo. He also reflects on the disappointment of falling short at the London 2012 Olympic Games but shares how that disappointment fuelled him to return stronger and place seventh at the Rio 2016 Games.

He opens up on how he managed the demanding balance of completing his law degree while training full-time for the Olympics, recalls how, shortly after competing in Rio, he took the bold plunge into entrepreneurship by opening his own law firm, shares he was determined to do this to ensure he didn’t face the post-Olympic slum that many athlete experiences, and reveals how he channelled his competitive mindset into his legal career, describing the transition as climbing a mountain.

Shkara also candidly shares the toughest challenges he faced when first taking the lap to start his own law firm and how he overcame them, talks about his journey of expanding the firm through strategic acquisitions, discusses how this process has given him valuable insights into what works well in different practices, and equally important, what he doesn’t want from his own firm, and offers valuable advice to law students – insights he wishes he had known at the very beginning of his legal career. To find out more about Justice Family Lawyer, click here.