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Ian Roberts

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Could your social media footprint destroy your career?       

There are no end of examples of people getting caught out by indiscreet social media posts or private messages that they thought would never see the light of day. With this in mind, we consider how concerned NQ candidates should be about their social media footprint.

Hill Dickinson revoked a student’s training contract earlier this year after conversations in a private WhatsApp group were leaked online. It followed screengrabs from a group called ‘Dodgy Blokes Soc’ being shared on Facebook by another student. The group comprised members of Exeter University’s Bracton Law Society and their exchanges included racist, sexist and homophobic messages.

Hill Dickinson said it was “deeply disturbed” by the messages, which they say did not represent the views of the firm.

Presumably, the news had students, trainees and junior lawyers across the country frantically scouring their messages and social media posts for potentially damaging content. If so, they were wise to do so. It has long been known that employers vet candidates’ social media posts. A report by recruitment firm CareerBuilder suggests that at least 70% of employers snoop on social media profiles.

Is it ethical or even legal for recruiters to do this? The new GDPR regulations impose strict rules on the collection of data but do not explicitly prohibit this type of behaviour.

Peter Church, a technology specialist at Linklaters, interviewed by the BBC on the topic last year, said: “The general rules are that employers should inform applicants if they are going to look at social media profiles and give them the opportunity to comment. The searches should also be proportionate to the job being applied for.”

An EU data protection working party has issued non-binding recommendations about the practice. It says that employers should require “legal grounds” before prying and suggests that any data collected must be relevant to the performance of the job.

So, where does that leave junior lawyers and NQs who may become candidates in the near future? How careful should they be?

I would suggest, very. They should work on the basis that anything they post on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter may be seen by a potential employer.

This is for two reasons. First, regardless of the rights and wrongs of employers checking candidate’s social media, in practice this is almost impossible to police. In our experience, employers do plenty of things that they are technically not supposed to do, such as approach somebody they know at a firm where a candidate used to work for an informal reference in the form of a nod or a wink.

Second, there is nothing to stop someone else (friend or foe) reposting something about you online and it subsequently going viral. It might come to an employer’s attention regardless of whether they have checked your posts. There’s a famous example of a publicist at media company IAC (owner of Tinder and the Daily Beast) tweeting the following before boarding a flight to South Africa: “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” The tweet went viral during her flight and by the time she landed she was at the centre of a worldwide Twitter storm. She was sacked shortly afterwards.

With LinkedIn, the position is even clearer. As LinkedIn is a work-related networking site your presence there is fair game. As we said in our recent post LinkedIn for Newly Qualified Solicitors: your FAQs answered, “it is important that you sound professional”.

We would also suggest that your concern should go beyond what you post online; it should extend to your behaviour. Smartphones mean you are only a photo or video clip away from notoriety if your behaviour falls below acceptable standards. In March, two students at Nottingham Trent University were arrested after another student tweeted a video of “vile” racist abuse taking place at the university.

For what it is worth, employers need to be as cautious as the candidates they are seeking to recruit. In August, Lucinda Nicholls tweeted details of an unpaid internship she was offering at her firm Nicholls & Nicholls. Cue a deluge of abuse from a number of lawyers and academics, and a series of online spats on the basis that she was seeking free labour. She disagreed, but whatever the rights and wrongs of her argument she has placed herself firmly in the public eye, for good or ill.

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So, you want to be an IP lawyer?

If you’ve ever wondered about the importance of intellectual property (IP), think about this. The inventor of the karaoke machine, Daisuke Inoue, didn’t patent his groundbreaking device. As a result, he never earnt a penny from an industry that launched a million drunken nights out. How he could have done with the advice of an IP lawyer. If you think you could have helped Daisuke, here’s what you need to know.

Earlier this summer, one of the world’s longest running legal disputes ended when Apple and Samsung settled a patent battle that had started in 2011. Apple originally sued its South Korean competitor for $2bn in the US for (allegedly) ripping off the design of its smartphones and tablets.

This led to numerous trials in the US as well as further claims in at least nine jurisdictions around the world, including the UK. One can only imagine the number of lawyers globally with files marked ‘Apple v Samsung’ in their cabinets.

In legal terms, the case had everything: high-profile clients, large fees over several years, and interesting legal arguments about new technology that was changing the world.

Intellectual property law, once seen as a curious backwater, was suddenly front-page news. More than that, the case highlighted the role IP was playing as tech companies rocketed to the forefront of the business world.

IP is an exciting area to work in right now. And that’s not just because of London’s status as an international tech hub. Brands in every industry, from pharmaceuticals to sports to fashion to media all recognise the value that exists in their intellectual property and the need to protect it.

At this point, we should say what IP work covers. The definition includes patents, copyright, trademarks, designs, brands, data and confidential information.

A feature of the work is its variety. It includes not only acquiring and registering IP rights but commercial agreements relating to them (such as licensing agreements), as well as defending them or objecting to their use without consent. Some IP lawyers specialise in certain rights (patents litigation or copyright, for example) and others on non-contentious or contentious work. It’s a broad church and a typical IP lawyer will deal with any number of different issues and rights in any one day.

Due to its technical nature, it is an area that often attracts lawyers with a science or tech background. (It is worth pointing out here that Albert Einstein, although not a lawyer, worked in a patent office. It should also be said that he must have found his work pretty undemanding as the idea for his theory of relativity came to him while he was at work.)

IP issues can sometimes be highly complex and the nature of the work is constantly evolving. The ability to apply strong scientific or technical knowledge to legal issues is one that will always be in demand. Fintech, an area almost unheard of a few years ago is now on everyone’s lips and firms will need to rise to the legal IP challenges it throws up. Similarly, you would have had to be living under a rock earlier this year not to have seen the confusion surrounding the new data protection regulations (GDPR) and the onus this put on giving accurate legal advice.

In terms of skills, lawyers in the field will need rounded legal knowledge of tort, contract and competition law, as well as, needless to say, IP law. A strong second language can also be useful as many issues straddle jurisdictions. This can sometimes open up opportunities for IP lawyers to work abroad, with the US a frequent cross-over destination.

The ability to work in a team is a must as you are likely to be dealing with experts from different fields and with a variety of backgrounds.

In many ways, IP is seen as almost recession proof, and, some believe, Brexit-proof too. In previous downturns, companies have sought to exploit their IP rights and, at the same time, jealously protect their exploitation by third parties.

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The top 5 mistakes to avoid as a junior lawyer  

Every junior lawyer wants to make a great first impression so it can be soul destroying when you make a silly mistake early on in your career at a new firm that shows you in a bad light. We asked Katherine Cousins, associate at Addleshaw Goddard and author of “Successful Solicitor: Get Ahead of the Game as a Junior Corporate Lawyer”, for her tips on the errors to avoid.

1. Typos

This was number one on the list of stupid mistakes cited when I asked (very scientifically) all my lawyer friends what most annoyed them about instructing trainees and recent NQs. The general gist of the complaint was, “Why put in all the effort to do the work well and then mess it up by not taking five minutes to proof read it?” I get it. You’re on a deadline and you’ve read it through what feels like a thousand times and you just want to send the thing and go home. Don’t. Print it out. Make yourself a tea and then take it somewhere other than your desk (the library, the secretaries bar, wherever) and go through it with a red pen.

You will be surprised how many glaring spelling errors you’ll spot or phrases that sound unclear now you’re reading them again. Try reading the document aloud, or in a funny accent. Again, it’s simply a silly way to trick your brain into seeing it fresh again. It might take another ten minutes, but better ten minutes late and correct than on time and full of careless errors.

2. Drafting memos like they’re law school essays

A memo of advice for a client is not a law school essay. Make it clear. Keep it as simple as possible. Complex language is tempting when you feel unsure of yourself. The best advice I received about this is to think about it like you’re trying to explain the problem and the solution to your Nan (unless your Nan is a Supreme Court judge). Basically, someone with no legal knowledge or background. Always include a summary of your findings and conclusions at the top that the in-house counsel or business manager can easily forward on to their colleagues. Often no one will really care about the complex analysis, they’ll just want to know the ‘answer’.

One partner I worked for used questions as sub-headings. Not everyone will like this style, but it did help to keep the client’s needs at the forefront of my mind while drafting our response. If you’re drafting a research memo for a senior associate/partner, then you can be more technical. But you should still be clear and concise. Keep a record of what sources you consulted and how you arrived at your conclusions. You need to be able to tell them where you looked and what you found in each place so that they can make themselves comfortable you haven’t missed anything vital.

3. Misjudging your workload

This is a tricky one. Really you should aim to say yes to everything. But at the same time, you do not want to end up in the situation where you have too much to do and are either late with everything or do everything badly because you don’t have time to do it well.

Better to have the one person you had to turn away annoyed with you than the multiple people whose work is late or rubbish. It is ok to say to someone who asks you to take on a task when you’re already stretched, “What is the priority here?” Explain that you have x, y, z for so and so and you’re happy to help them but only if it is ok with that other partner. Often the instructing lawyer will realise you really are busy and find someone else, or they’ll support you when you ask for leeway from the other people for whom you’re working.

That said, don’t be the idiot who turns down work but skips out the door at 7:30pm. It doesn’t make the best impression, especially if your colleagues are drowning. If you’re at a loose end, send a short email to the partners and senior associates in your team letting them know you have capacity. They may or may not have anything, but you will look brilliantly keen nonetheless.

4. Working in a vacuum

I confess, I still struggle with this one when it’s not my matter, particularly if it’s a matter you did not have the good fortune to join from the start. You’re given a task, seemingly discrete – a piece of research or a quick piece of drafting – that you complete to the best of your abilities but somehow it’s not what the instructing lawyer wanted. You know what you’re missing? Context. How can you answer the question when you don’t know where your work fits in the grand scheme of the deal?

It seems like this should be very obvious to the person instructing you, but as soon as you’re the one giving instructions you will realise that it’s much harder than you thought to explain the necessary background. So go after it yourself. Help your seniors out by asking questions: who is the client? What are they trying to achieve? How do they usually work/what style do they like their advice in? If it’s research, what specific facts do you need to know to be able to distinguish useful precedent from irrelevant?

I promise, you are not being annoying by asking for extra details. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard more senior lawyers complain that trainees just don’t seem to appreciate the context of their work (I honestly think this is a little unfair – I mean how do you know the context till you’ve done it a few times? But anyway…). They’ll be grateful because your questions will help them shape their instructions. And your work product will be greatly improved to boot! Win.

5. Being entitled

When this came up in our ‘Welcome to the Firm’ presentation back when I was a trainee, I was surprised. Surely no one actually thought they were too good to photocopy things and be polite to the secretaries? How naive I was! A friend of mine told me about asking a trainee to help her with drafting a short letter only for him to pipe back, yes but it’d be much faster if you just did it. Because he didn’t want to miss his dinner plans. She had to explain to him that the client wouldn’t pay her rates to do something so simple, and would he mind just getting the hell on with it.

I recently had dealings with an intern who wouldn’t help me and a senior associate prepare the meeting room for a client meeting because, ‘That’s a secretary’s job.’ Outrageous behaviour. You’re never too good to pitch in. Remember that.

Katherine is an associate at Addleshaw Goddard. This article is adapted from Katherine’s book, ‘Successful Solicitor: Get Ahead of the Game as a Junior Corporate Lawyer‘.

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Kirkland & Ellis’s perfect autumn retention score leaves magic circle firms trailing

With the autumn NQ retention announcement season in full swing, we take a look at which firms are coming out on top so far.

US mega-firm Kirkland & Ellis has achieved a perfect score for autumn 2018 with all 10 of its London-based trainees remaining with the firm. This compared favourably to its poor showing a year ago when just five out of nine stayed on. They will start on an eye-watering £146,000, in part thanks to the salary war being waged by US firms, as we wrote about here.

Trailing behind the US giant is Clifford Chance, the first of the magic circle firms to reveal its autumn 2018 retention rates. And pretty underwhelming they are too. Out of 47 qualifies, 44 applied for roles at the firm with 36 succeeding (a retention rate of 76.5%). This is a drop from its 92% score in the spring and below its 81% average score over all retention periods from spring 2010 to date.

There’s better news at fellow magic circle firm Slaughter and May, which has posted an 86% retention rate (32 out of 37 qualifiers). This is down on its spring return of 95% and its score of 91% this time last year.

Also lagging behind Kirkland & Ellis is US firm, Shearman & Sterling, which is keeping on 11 of its 13 qualifiers (85%). Nine of these NQ’s will stay in London, with one moving to its office in Brussels and the other to its office in Abu Dhabi.

Silver circle firm Travers Smith is another to have gained full marks, keeping on all 21 of its autumn qualifiers. They will start on £75,000, ranking them alongside Baker McKenzie, DLA Piper and Hogan Lovells in the salary stakes. The firm has a strong record on retentions with a 90% score in the spring and 94% this time last year.

Fellow City outfit Taylor Wessing has announced a more than creditable 91% retention rate, offering 21 out of 23 trainees an NQ role, all of whom accepted (although one is on a fixed term contract). They will start on £71,000, a hike of £8,000 compared to last year.

Mayer Brown was first off the mark with its announcement this summer, keeping eight out of 10 NQs (an easy to calculate 80%). The firm kept all four of its spring qualifiers.

Outside the capital, special mention must go to Bristol-based Burges Salmon which has scored an impressive 96%, with all but one of its 27 qualifiers accepting offers to stay with the firm.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on further announcements, so look out for our update later in the summer.

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Leading firms need to look beyond salaries to recruit the top NQs and associates

In the first part of this two-part blog, we looked at the salary war currently being fought by the large US firms in their bid to attract the best talent.

In this second part, we examine what forward-thinking firms can do to persuade NQs and associates that it is not all about the money.

How important is salary when recruiting the best NQs and associate lawyers? If the recent pay battle between the top US firms is anything to go by, many law firms think it is the number one factor in attracting the top talent.

But how true is this? Deloitte’s recently published Global Human Capital Trends Survey suggests that in the UK at least, other dynamics are at play which may be as or even more important.

Deloitte’s survey highlights the UK’s top three ‘human capital’ trends in 2018. We look at these and examine the extent to which law firms should consider these when recruiting the brightest and the best.

1. From careers to experiences

“In the 21st century, the individual and his or her experience take centre stage,” say Deloitte. This means that rather than a steady progression along a fixed pathway – think of lawyers climbing the associate ladder to partnership – individuals are seeking a job that allows them to acquire valuable experiences and to continually reinvent themselves.

This has resulted in a shift in the power balance between employers and employees. ‘Millennials’ now make up nearly 50% of the workforce in many organisations and they want to work on their own terms. This includes flexibility (driven by technology) in terms of how, where, when and with whom they work. People are more willing to work part-time and manage a portfolio career around their own interests.

At present, only 20% of organisations focus on providing their staff with meaningful experiences. Deloitte believes that the remainder need to fundamentally re-evaluate their approach to careers. This includes “building flexible career opportunities that focus on skills and tasks rather than just jobs”. They should also assess new talent pools and think beyond full-time salaried employees to flexible workers. Deloitte says more change is coming and that “agility is key” in order to react to society’s shifting demands.

How many law firms are within the enlightened 20% and have even thought about these issues? Given their willingness to throw money around as if it is the only thing that matters, the answer is probably ‘very few’.

2. Wellbeing: a strategy and a responsibility

The line between work and life is blurring like never before (and not just because many associates seem to live in the office). Today’s employees demand a range of benefits that covers their physical, mental, financial and spiritual health. This includes the physical working environment itself, which is one reason so many corporates are now attracted to the ‘WeWork’ style of office set-up.

Wellbeing is defined in this context as “feeling good and functioning well”. As Deloitte says: “Employee wellbeing is no longer seen as ‘nice to have’ but an essential differentiator.” It is strongly associated with improved rates of retention and engagement, not to mention productivity.

How many law firms take this seriously rather than paying lip service to it? At the end of last year, Legal Cheek surveyed 2,000 trainee and junior lawyers about how many hours they worked a week. Many average 11+ hours per day, rising to above 12 hours a day in some cases. One magic circle lawyer is quoted as saying: “I go home just to sleep, I am in the office for every other minute of the day. That being said, I have only had to work two weekends over the past four months, which has been nice.”

How sustainable is it to expect junior lawyers to suffer this work/life balance at a time when society is starting to dance to a different beat?

3. The hyper-connected workplace

Technology has changed how we communicate. “The adoption of innovative workplace technologies is now being led by employees rather than the employer,” say Deloitte. “Individuals are taking popular social and collaborative tools from their personal life and applying them in the workplace.” It asks if organisations can use hyper-connectivity to become hyper-productive?

Could well thought out technological architecture improve law firm efficiency and employee productivity? Are lawyers at risk of being stuck in age-old working methods at the expense of both their clients and employees?

One firm that is taking this seriously is Mishcon de Reya. It announced recently that it is offering some of its lawyers the opportunity to take 20% of their chargeable time to help develop innovation and technology initiatives. Its chief technology officer Nick West said: “We are constantly looking for ways in which we can deliver more for our clients through optimising technology and ways in which we can streamline our own ways of working.”

This is exactly the type of step firms unwilling or unable to match the stratospheric salaries being offered by US and magic circle firms should be taking as the battle for talent intensifies.

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Is the US firms’ associate salary war really such good news for junior lawyers?

In the first part of a two-part blog, we look at the salary war currently engulfing the large US firms and what this means for newly qualified solicitors, mid-level associates and top UK law firms.

These are joyful days for NQs and associates at top US firms. While they are racking up the chargeable hours, their bosses are waging a pay war that benefits no one more than themselves.

They can thank Milbank for lobbing the first grenade. The New York-based firm has increased NQ salaries to an industry high of $190,000 (c.£144,000), rising to $330,000 (c.£250,000) for lawyers with eight years PQE. The raises will apply to UK-based lawyers as well as their colleagues in the US.

On announcing the hike, London co-managing partner Julian Stait said: “The firm continues to do extremely well and we have an exceptional group of associates.

“We want to be at the top of the market,” he said. “But it’s not done to take part in a race. We take the view that we’re not just market leaders in compensation, but also in how we train our associates. Our greatest asset is our people.”

They might not have wished to start a race, but they may as well have put on some shorts, stretched their hamstrings and asked somebody to fire a starting pistol. Not to be outdone, the firm Milbank toppled as the market’s leading payers, Cravath Swaine & Moore, quickly reacted by announcing only days later that it too is bumping pay rates. It is not only matching the NQ salaries offered by Milbank, but fourth-year associates at Cravath will receive $5,000 more than their Milbank counterparts, rising to $10,000 for sixth-year associates. Additionally, Cravath is offering bonuses to its associates, starting at $5,000 and rising to $25,000 a year for those with six years PQE and beyond.

Other US firms have quickly followed suit: Quinn Emanuel, Simpson Thacher, Akin Gump, Kirkland & Ellis, and Latham & Watkins have all upped their salaries along similar lines.

So, where does this leave the magic circle firms and other leading UK firms?

Only Clifford Chance and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer of the UK’s major players have matched the new norm in a bid to compete (salary wise) with the US firms for the top talent.

Is this news really as good as it sounds for associate lawyers? They will be paid a lot of money, but I can’t escape the feeling that these US firms will expect even more blood, sweat and tears from their associates. But how much more can they reasonably expect from their associates, many of whom are already overworked and overwrought?

Not only is their already skewed work/life balance likely to suffer further, these stratospheric salaries will do nothing to improve their already slim partnership prospects. And, if the market takes a downturn, their jobs, with their expensive salaries, are perhaps even more likely to be the first to be cut.

It brings to mind the famous quote by film director Alfred Hitchcock. “When an actor comes to me and wants to discuss his character, I say, ‘It’s in the script.’ If he says, ‘But what’s my motivation?’ I say, ‘Your salary.’”

Of course, not everyone is motivated by salary alone. Firms who can’t (or refuse to) compete on pay might want to consider what else they can offer junior lawyers. If salary is not the be-all and end-all (and I know from experience that for many people it isn’t), what should firms be focusing on as they try to attract talent away from the mighty dollar?

This is the subject of the second part of this blog when I will consider how firms can use the quality of the work they undertake, career prospects, work/life balance, and their working environment in an attempt to entice the best junior lawyers.

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