The legal profession has turned out to be a lot different from what Ms Imelda Reynolds expected when she left school in the late 1970s. Having seen her parents work seven days a week in the family shop in Athlone, Ms Reynolds decided she wanted an office job.

"So, in my naivety in the 1970s, I said I'd do law - Monday to Friday, nice job, no long hours. Little did I know," she laughs. Not that she's complaining. Ms Reynolds has just been made managing partner with Beauchamps Solicitors on Dublin's Wellington Quay.

She joined Beauchamps halfway through her apprenticeship, after receiving a BCL from UCD in 1982 and further studies in Blackhall Place. She qualified in 1987.

"I'd say I was never a very good scholar in law in UCD but I feel I'm a much better practicing solicitor than I was a scholar. I feel I have a flair for it in practice," she says. That flair saw Ms Reynolds become an associate in Beauchamps in 1989 and a partner in 1994. As partner in charge of the commercial property division, she specialises in all aspects of acquiring, selling, leasing and developing commercial property, with particular emphasis on drafting and negotiating commercial leases and the drafting and negotiation of property development documentation. She also advises on the financing of property developments.

While residential property grabs the headlines, commercial property has not been without its share of problems, according to Ms Reynolds.

"There has been a shortage of available land," she says. "In particular, there has been this log jam in the planning process. Inevitably, between somebody buying a site and getting it into the letting stage, you're talking about a couple of years while it goes through the planning process, appeals and sometimes a public hearing."

There was not much office development in the 1980s and early 1990s, and there was a lot of catching up to be done, she adds.

Despite the much-talked-about jitters in the financial and business worlds, Ms Reynolds expects the commercial property market to hold up, particularly as there are many areas marked for development and demand is still strong.

"There's the whole of the south quays, the Grand Canal Quay and all down Sir John Rogerson's Quay. I think Macken Street bridge will open up all that area even further. I don't see any sign of it drying up. I think it is going to be quite buoyant in terms of lettings in the next couple of years," she says.

A second area of expertise is in franchise law and practice, and, in particular, advising on the development of franchise businesses and acting for franchisees.

While franchise work would not warrant somebody working full-time in the area, it is a growing business, according to Ms Reynolds.

Franchising is a very good way for somebody to expand their business without having to spend the time and suffer the cost of setting up a new branch themselves, she says. The franchisee is liable for the rent on shops or offices, staff costs and overheads.

"The person who is franchising doesn't have to incur those costs and gets a fee for the licence to use the name," said Ms Reynolds. "Having said that, you have to set a franchise up properly. The reason why the likes of McDonalds and O'Brien's Irish Sandwich Bars are successful is because they do it properly - setting up with proper training, proper management and proper control. They're not just interested in selling the licence to use the name. They're interested in quality control, in making sure the franchisee maintains the integrity of the system."

Before considering franchising, she advises the business owner to put themselves in the shoes of a possible franchisee.

"There has to be something unique about the thing that is being offered in order for it to be a franchise," she says.

But as somebody who also advises franchisees, Ms Reynolds warns against people thinking it is a get-rich-quick scheme and an easy way of getting into business.

"It's not actually cheaper at the initial stage because, in addition to the costs normally associated with setting up a business, to get into a franchise network, you usually have to pay a fairly significant up-front fee. Depending on the quality of the franchise, it could be from £1,000 (#1,270), which is fairly nominal, to £100,000 or upwards for the premium franchises."

As well as the capital cost, there may be a long training period when the business is not generating cash, while, on an ongoing basis, a turnover fee may be charged.

"So, if you're not making money, you still have to pay the fee," she says. The benefits are down the line, she adds.

"The benefits are that you're not going to make the same elementary mistakes that one would make in setting up your own business. You're stepping into a tried and trusted formula, and you're benefiting from the goodwill that attaches to that brand. So, therefore, you should get into profit mode much more quickly."

Profits, fees and money are very often the words the general public associates with the legal profession, but Ms Reynolds says the notion of huge fees is a perception rather than a reality.

"Partly that comes from things like the tribunals, where there was a lot of fuss about fees, and litigation also generates a lot of publicity on fees," she says. "Litigation is only one side of the practice of law. There are a lot of other elements to the legal business - there is private client work, wills, commercial property work. This is the bread-and-butter work of a legal practice."

With regard to fees, there is a legal obligation on solicitors to discuss fee arrangements at the outset of a transaction, she says.

"So, there is never a surprise in terms of fees. No more than anyone else, we are providing a service. It is so competitive. If people are not happy with you or with the level of fees, they won't come back to you or they won't come to you in the first instance."

Ms Reynolds's recent appointment to managing partner is further evidence of the progress women are making in what was long-regarded as a male-dominated world.

"It never really seemed like a male-dominated profession. Even within my class in UCD, there were quite a number of women. It didn't seem like an issue. Everyone has the same concerns - get a job when you qualify, keep working, get experience and work your way up," she says.

She believes the profession has changed over the years and cites the number of women judges on the Supreme Court, High Court, Circuit Courts and District Courts as evidence of the change.

"Having said that, there are the same problems you get with every profession, where you have women at a certain stage who want to take time out to have children and that affects the numbers coming through after a certain time."

But she said the profession lends itself well to people working from home, either on a full-time or part-time basis.

"There are a lot of women who have set up their own practices where they do work at times that suit them for a smaller number of clients and, when they have more time, they build up the business."

Ms Reynolds concedes that she was lucky that, when her first child was born, her husband Enda, who is an architect, decided to work part-time in order to look after the child.

When her third child was born 10 months ago, her husband quit work to stay at home full-time.

"We're very fortunate in that. Enda was happy to do that and I'm the one that reaps the rewards there," she says.