"I don't think either of us had quite grasped how difficult it would be, one for him to start genuinely handing control over, and also for me to be able to step in that role," she says.
"So I think both of us had a lot of growing to do and working out how things how things could look like."
But as the process went on, she says there seemed to be a mismatch between the intellectual idea of handing over the business and the reality of stepping down, and there came a point when she felt the process had stalled. So she set up her own firm, as an appointed representative of Emery Little.
"I found myself not really being able to make some of the changes and do some of the things that I really want to do. And so myself and my colleague Alfie started kind of a separate company, still an appointed representative of Emery Little, called Eelah.
"We wanted to test out a different kind of service, with different types of clients, use different technologies and have the freedom to do that."
It was only then that her father put things in motion to hand over the reins of the business, she says.
"It was a bit of a tricky time because this was really exciting and [we thought] we'll kind of go down this road, and then my dad's like 'oh actually, I'm ready now, would you come back to Emery Little... and run Emery Little, like actually run it.
"And I was like, it's difficult because it's what I'd wanted all along, and he wasn't ready for it."
But she did agree and as the takeover progressed she asked Mullan to return and join her full time as well as transfer Eelah's clients.
Now Little says a lot could have gone better during that process. "I'm not sure that there is enough information, resource, support, or examples of people sharing their experience" about succession planning, she says.
She says people assume you can plan a succession in two years, whereas they should think "at least five years in advance".
"There is so much mentoring that needs to be done... and the incumbent owner needs loads of support, primarily emotional really because time flies and the retirement can be super scary.
"It's not really a financial transaction and when you come to the table and talk about finances, if you don't have support in all of those other areas, it makes that really difficult and long and drawn out."
She explains the firm was also approached by consolidators, and still is.
