VMH Solicitors is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. It has a team member who started on the very first day the firm opened its doors — and is still there. Another joined two months later. And Director Mary Pat McFarlane has been with them for 22 years herself, progressing from junior solicitor all the way to the top.
In a world where staff turnover is one of the biggest headaches for business owners, VMH is doing something very differently. Mary Pat joins Brenda on Scale HER Up to share what that actually looks like — and the leadership lessons that have shaped her along the way.
The secret to extraordinary staff retention
Ask Mary Pat what the key to keeping staff for 20 or 40 years is, and her answer is refreshingly direct: hire people you actually want to work with.
"When we're doing staff interviews, we hire people that we want to work with. If there's no spark — obviously you want people to be good at their job — but we want to be able to enjoy sitting beside them at a desk."
That culture has a direct commercial benefit. When staff take pride in where they work, they recommend it. VMH gets a consistent stream of personal referrals from friends of staff, family of staff, and friends of family of staff. And over two-thirds of their business comes from repeat clients — including families where Mary Pat has done work for grandparents, parents and now grandchildren.
Acting decisively when things go wrong
VMH wasn't immune to the 2008 property crash. As a firm with a significant residential property practice, the impact was real. But the response was decisive.
"Making a decision, acting decisively, backing that decision — as far as I'm aware, we were one of the fewer firms of our sort of size in our area who didn't go into massive overdraft."
Rather than letting uncertainty drag on, the firm moved quickly — reducing to a four-day week, pulling back costs, protecting as many jobs as possible. The same principles held when COVID hit. The management team had evolved, but the core approach hadn't changed.
It's a lesson that applies well beyond law: in a crisis, clarity and speed matter more than perfection.
What rugby taught her about business
Before joining VMH full-time, Mary Pat had already played women's rugby for Scotland — and a career-ending neck injury in 2006 brought that chapter to a close earlier than she'd hoped. But the lessons from sport have stayed with her throughout her business career.
"Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. You can't go out on a rugby pitch not having trained, not having worked out your tactics, not having run through everything with your teammates 100 times so that it becomes instinctive."
She also talked about the reality of working in a team where you don't always love every person around you — but you find a way to respect the effort they're putting in and work toward the same goal. It's a principle she's applied directly to managing a team of 30.
"If you're aiming for the same common goal, and you're all working towards it in a combined way, you're going to make those achievements."
The leadership lesson she had to learn the hard way
Despite being promoted quickly through the firm — associate by September, partner by 2006 — Mary Pat is honest that the people management side of leadership didn't come naturally.
"I hated the team manager type work. I am confident and competent as a lawyer. But I didn't enjoy the people management."
Being promoted above colleagues who had been with the firm for 20 years before she arrived took some navigation. Her advice to anyone in a similar position: take whatever training is available, put yourself in the uncomfortable situation, and lead with empathy.
"Everybody's just trying to do a job. Having the empathy of understanding the reasoning behind why people are acting the way they are — that makes a real difference."
Your personal network is your business network
One of the most interesting insights from this conversation is where Mary Pat's business network actually comes from. Not formal networking events or business associations — but rugby.
"The largest network I would draw on — both the female and the male side of the rugby club — because we were quite closely intertwined."
Staying on as a social member after she stopped playing, getting involved in organising club functions, keeping in touch with players from all walks of life — it's produced a network of contacts, mentors and clients that no amount of traditional networking could have replicated.
On being a woman in law
When Brenda asked about the experience of being a woman in a traditionally male-dominated profession, Mary Pat's answer was notable for its honesty.
"I have genuinely never felt that I have been held back or overlooked or judged because I'm female rather than male."
She was clear that this doesn't mean gender inequality doesn't exist — it does, and she acknowledges that. But her own experience, from a law degree that was roughly 50/50, to a firm that is now overwhelmingly female at every level, has been one where she's been judged on her work and nothing else.
Today, VMH has two female directors and one male, with around 25 women in a team of 30. Whatever the reasons for that balance, it's a firm where the environment speaks for itself.
About Mary Pat McFarlane
Mary Pat McFarlane is a Director of VMH Solicitors, a long-established Scottish law firm specialising in private client services including property, wills, executries and powers of attorney. A former Scotland international rugby player, Mary Pat has been with VMH for 22 years and has been instrumental in building the firm's culture, client relationships and reputation for exceptional service.
