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James Pritchard

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Spring retention round-up: Slaughter and May is top performing magic circle firm

With the 2020 spring retention announcements well underway, here’s the first of our round-ups of how the top firms are performing in the season of new beginnings. 

Spring is in the air, (or would be if it ever stopped raining), and that means only one thing. Anxious trainees across the country are finding out whether they are being kept on as NQs by their training firm.

Magic Circle

As ever, we’ve been keeping a beady on how the top firms are performing. And where better place to start than with magic circle firm Clifford Chance, one of the first out of the blocks this year. The Canary Wharf-based outfit offered 34 of its 40 qualifiers NQ jobs and all accepted, a score of 85%. The firm was characteristically mum when making the announcement and did not comment on the results.

This year’s qualifying cohort is the smallest for many years and 11 fewer than last spring’s group. In autumn 2008, the firm took on its highest ever number of trainees, no less than 74.

This spring’s 85% figure compares to its 90% return this time last year and 87% last autumn. The newbies will start on a basic salary of £100,000 and will also be in line for a discretionary bonus.

Fellow magic circle firm Slaughter and May has posted another in a string of solid results. It is retaining 29 of its 31 qualifiers for a score of 94%, which is almost identical to its return of 97% last spring and 93% in the autumn. These new lawyers will start on £92,000, which could rise to over £100,000 depending on bonus.

Freshfields meanwhile has attained a score of 90% by making offers to 36 of its 39 qualifying trainees, with all but one accepting. Craig Montgomery, training principal and trainee development partner, said the results reflect the firm’s “ongoing commitment to recruiting, retaining and developing top talent for the future”. They will start on £100,000, and there is no bonus.

Another magic circle firm, Linklaters, has 41 trainees qualifying this spring and all but five will be staying with the firm (88%). They too will enjoy a salary of £100,000, which represents a combined basic salary and a discretionary performance bonus. In its last two rounds of results, the firm posted figures of 91% and 80%, and this season’s return is another positive score after a slight blip of 73% in autumn 2018.

Last of the magic circle firms to report this season was Allen & Overy, who have revealed a score of 81%, with 30 of 37 trainees signing on as NQs. This is a slight dip compared to the firm’s retention score last autumn of 89%. This spring’s newly qualifieds will receive a package worth £100,000, comprising salary and what is described as “a sign on bonus”.

Other Highlights

Elsewhere, Addleshaw Goddard has 11 qualifiers across its London, Leeds and Manchester offices and all are taking up NQ roles with the firm (100%). John Joyce, the firm’s managing partner, said the quality of work produced by the eight women and three men in the trainee group has been “exceptionally high and we are therefore very pleased to have been able to offer them all positions within their preferred teams”.

City firm Trowers & Hamlins is keeping on eight of its 10 qualifying trainees from its offices in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Exeter, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Those in London will start on £68,000, compared to the £44,000 being paid to their fellow NQs based in the regions.

The two qualifiers (out of three) staying on at the London office of US firm Ropes & Gray will be on no less than £130,000 plus a bonus, putting them on a par with their counterparts at Latham & Watkins, and Weil Gotshal & Manges. In contrast, the four final seat trainees (out of five), being retained at Mayer Brown will be on £90,000.

We will update with further spring 2020 retention news as and when it comes in.

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Should you move firms for a better work/life balance?

Are you thinking of moving firm for a better work/life balance? If so, what factors should you consider before taking the plunge?

It’s not often we get the chance to quote Dolly Parton in a blog, so we couldn’t miss the opportunity when it arose. “Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life,” advised the American country singer and actress. It’s a sentiment many lawyers are taking to heart as they strive for that seemingly elusive work/life balance.

Much of this is driven by the fact that the 9 to 5 working day Dolly famously sang about is a distant memory, certainly for junior lawyers. They spend an average of 10 hours and 15 minutes in the office every day, according to a recent survey by Legal Cheek. Junior lawyers at Jones Day have the longest average day at 12 hours and 9 minutes, with those at Kirkland & Ellis only three minutes behind. The lawyers with the shortest day (of firms surveyed) are at BLM, who work (a mere) eight hours and 58 minutes a day.

But are the average numbers of hours a day a reason to consider changing firm? That depends on the individual. If you are arriving at the office before 9am and not leaving until after 9pm each working day, that might get demoralising as it leaves little time to spend with friends and family or to pursue outside interests.

Billable hours

The reality is more likely to be that there are periods when you are working intense hours on a particular case or transaction, and this is followed by a quieter period with shorter days. Perhaps, when you think about, you enjoy this variety and the adrenaline rush of a frantic period as much as (or perhaps more) than the less hectic periods.

A better indication of the number of hours you’ll be putting in and the stress you will be under is the billable hours target. K & L Gates expects its lawyers to put in 2,088 billable hours a year, which is at least 288 hours more than their counterparts at magic circle firms Clifford Chance and Allen & Overy, for example.

Remuneration

Bear in mind too that the firms with the greatest demands in terms of hours tend to be amongst those who pay the most. Kirkland & Ellis NQs may rack up 12-hour days, but they are also on c. £150,000 a year compared to the £44,000 BLM pays its London-based NQs and the £30,000 it pays in the regions.

The bottom line is that often (though not always) pressure and long hours means a higher salary. The question is, how low you are prepared to go for less anxiety and fewer hours?

Why not check out our (August 2019 blog) on salary uplifts for NQs?

Perks and other factors

Another factor to consider are the perks you would miss out on, such as healthcare, gym membership and subsidised staff restaurants. Plus, there are some things you can’t put a price on. What’s the morale like at the firm? Is there a shared sense of purpose and do you have good friends there? What is the quality of work like and what sort of experience are you getting?

Are you growing as a lawyer and what opportunities are there for learning and development or working in different offices, perhaps overseas? Is it worth sticking it out until you have the necessary experience you need before moving onto the next stage of your career?

Remember too that moving to a smaller, seemingly less demanding firm doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you will be under less pressure or enjoy it more. You may end up working for a particularly difficult boss, and although you will be at your desk for fewer hours, the time you spend there may not be as rewarding. You might merely be changing job and walking into a different type of stress for less money.

Can you move departments or roles?

When you think about it carefully you may realise that you like the firm’s culture and people, you don’t mind the hours too much, but it’s simply the work that’s getting you down. Or perhaps it’s the client-facing side of the role. Consider whether there may be other opportunities in the firm, such as moving to a different department or becoming a professional support lawyer with little client interaction.

Whatever you decide, don’t jump ship on a whim, wait until you have given it careful thought from every angle. Or, as Dolly put it: “Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”

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Should junior lawyers learn to code?

Skeleton coding

To code or not to code, that is the question? Many lawyers believe learning to code is a waste of time and will do nothing to help them succeed as a lawyer. Others argue that coding is an essential skill in an industry finally embracing technology. Some even predict that before long, all lawyers will be coders. Who’s right?

Let’s start by agreeing that law tech is not a fad. Admittedly, the legal profession is not renowned for being forward thinking, but I think we can safely say the penny has finally dropped. Technology is altering the way lawyers work by simplifying the way documents are produced, speeding up research, transforming due diligence and disclosure exercises, and reducing administration costs. While nothing is certain, it’s a reasonable bet that law tech is going to continue evolving and will do so rapidly. 

That’s all well and good some lawyers say, but why does this mean lawyers need to code? Arguments against it range from “Lawyers would be better off learning to use Word and Excel properly” to “Lawyers should learn to work with coders, not become coders” to “Lawyers should spend their time learning specialised legal skills that can help them deliver a better service to clients”.

What is coding?

Before giving the flip side to these arguments, we should take a step back and look at what coding is. In brief, coding is a language used to get a computer to behave the way you want it to. The skills needed for coding share a lot of those required for being a lawyer such as being able to express yourself logically and without ambiguity. The important thing though is that coding is a language.

Lawyers who are expert coders

US lawyer Jason Morris argues in an article in Medium that some lawyers need to be expert coders and that they are needed now. “There are legal services which we clearly need, which cannot be effectively provided by a lawyer who cannot read and write, at an expert level, the language in which the relevant rules have been expressed,” he says. “We cannot get by in a world that operates in one language and lawyers who only speak another.”

What about the rest?

What about the other lawyers who are not required as expert coders? What do they need to know?

Slaughter & May’s Knowledge & Innovation Manager Emma Watson believes “lawyers may not need to be coders, but they will need to be digitally literate”.

“By having an understanding of the link between computers/coding and the legal sector,” she says, “lawyers will be able to make the most of advances in legal tech, but more importantly they will be able to understand the art of the possible. Lawyers with a greater digital literacy will be better placed to advise their clients on the impact of disruptive tech.”

It’s the crossover between soft skills (human and legal) and technology that’s important. Steve Jobs was, as usual, ahead of his time when he said tech alone is not enough: “It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing.” I doubt law, even combined with tech, will ever make anyone’s heart sing, but you get the point.

Lessons from Deep Blue

Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov explains this concept brilliantly in his book about Deep Blue, the first computer chess programme to beat a world champion (Kasparov himself). Kasparov subsequently started a new form of chess involving humans and computers. What he found was that a human and a computer would always beat a computer on its own.

More interestingly, he found that a computer plus a mediocre chess player with a good understanding of how to make the most of the computer’s capabilities would beat a much better chess player who was not as adept at using the computer’s capabilities.

The analogy with lawyers is obvious.

Many of the larger law firms have bought into this and several are offering training contracts and graduate schemes with a focus on technology. Among these are Clifford Chance, which has launched a training contract specifically focus on law tech called Ignite. Ignite that will take on five trainees in autumn 2021.

Another is Addleshaw Goddard, which offers a seat to trainees in the firm’s in-house innovation and legal technology team as part of their training contract rotation.

Addleshaw Goddard’s Kerry Westland, head of innovation and legal technology, expresses what no doubt a lot of junior lawyers think when she says: “People who are growing up with tech are future clients. And we, as lawyers, need to train our new joiners to understand that.”

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Pressure mounts on SRA over the new SQE ‘super-exam’

Exam

The pressure on the SRA over its new ‘super-exam’ has intensified in recent weeks, with the Junior Lawyers Division warning that it could damage the credibility of the profession and the Legal Services Board listing a number of concerns that the SRA needs to address before it gets approval.

The Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) has warned that the proposed SQE “poses significant risks to the standing and credibility (both domestically and internationally) of the solicitor qualification”.

The warning came in a letter at the beginning of November to the Legal Services Board (LSB), the regulator which needs to give final sign off to the new exam before it comes into force in September 2021.

The JLD, which represents 70,000 law students, trainees and solicitors up to five years’ PQE, has already voiced numerous concerns over the new exam, as we have written about here and here.

Multiple-choice

In a letter sent to the LSB’s Chair Dr Helen Phillips, the JLD’s Amy Clowrey said that by moving away “from the academic, essay-based means of assessment of legal knowledge” to multiple-choice questions in SQE1 would negatively affect “the quality of people entering the profession”.

In her letter, Clowrey referred to criticism of the SQE raised by Clyde & Co, Linklaters and the University of Oxford in a consultation about the exam. Clyde & Co is on record as saying it has “strong concerns” about whether legal knowledge can be tested by multiple-choice questions and fears individuals entering the profession “may do so knowing substantially less law”.

Similar reservations have been expressed by the University of Oxford, which said multiple-choice questions are “of no value in determining whether an individual would be able to give competent advice in situations in which the law is unclear”. 

Linklaters has been even more damning, saying: “We fundamentally disagree that the proposed SQE is a robust and effective measure of competence.”

Key issues the SRA needs to address

It seems these criticisms are not falling on death ears, as the LSB has itself expressed some disquiet about the SQE. The LSB has said it will be sending to the SRA a list of “key issues” that need to be addressed in its second application, which is due in July/August next year.

Chris Nichols, the LSB’s Director of Regulation and Policy, has said it is important that the SQE provides “a fully valid assessment of competence and that quality, and perceptions of quality, are not compromised”.

Nichols has also responded to previous worries expressed by the JLD and others about students being mistreated during their qualifying work experience noting that there is an “overall lack of any quality assurance of the process by the SRA”.

Dr Helen Phillips has herself chimed in, saying: “The board is aware of the strength of feeling around the SRA’s introduction of the SQE, and we were pleased to have an opportunity to discuss the next steps for the process. We know that there remain a number of concerns for stakeholders, and our overarching desire to proactively gather and understand such views carries over into any discussion of the SQE.”

Will the SQE be too difficult?

Meanwhile, Linklaters has also questioned whether the new exam is going to be too difficult, and warns that if it is, there will be knock-on effects for firms in terms of both recruitment and reputational damage.

Linklaters’ Head of Global Training, Patrick McCann, has said: “The SRA is basing SQE1 on the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme and that has something like a 50% fail rate. Currently, the law degree fail rate is about 2% and the Legal Practice Course fail rate is about 10-20%, and for firms like Linklaters it’s 0-2%.”

McCann has said a high fail rate would cause huge complications for City firms: “We recruit for spaces and if we’re left with spaces because our recruitment round doesn’t make it through that causes all sorts of problems.”

He also fears that “the reputational risk if you’re the law firm that doesn’t get students through the exams is going to be huge”.

But Sarah Hutchinson, managing director of legal education provider Barbri has played down these anxieties and said: “Typically when a new exam is introduced, you would expect the examiner to give the benefit of the doubt to the students and it is not in the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s best interests to produce dramatic fail rates. After all, they want the SQE to succeed.”

It seems certain that analysis of the new SQE (both positive and negative) will continue to play out in the legal press as we head towards 2021. We’ll update you with the latest news as and when it comes in.

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10 pieces of career advice every ambitious NQ should follow

How often do you hear successful people say they wish they’d known at the start of their career what they know now? How they would love to be able to sit down with their younger self and teach them what they learned over the years. If only they could perform that time-travel trick, how much smoother their career path would have been.

We speak every day to careers advisers and partners at the top of the legal profession. Here are 10 of the best tips they have for newly qualifieds and junior lawyers at the start of their career:

1. Go to your boss with a solution, not a problem

At its most basic level, a lawyer’s job is to solve their clients’ problems. The higher you rise in the profession, the tougher the problems become. Most partners have additional, non-client problems to deal with too, usually in relation to the running of the firm. The last thing a partner wants to do is solve your problems as well as their own. They want to see that you have the ability, tenacity and initiative to work things out for yourself. At the very least, they expect you to attempt to find the solution to the issue at hand.

2. Keep on learning

After years of school, university and law college, it is easy to lapse into the mindset that your days of studying are behind you. This would be a mistake. The best lawyers are the ones who never stop learning, whether from their own experience, their colleagues or anyone else they come into contact with. This requires an enquiring mind and a dose of humility. As the saying goes: “True humility is staying teachable, regardless of how much you already know.”

3. Admit your mistakes and learn from them

Every lawyer has had that heart-stopping moment when they realise they’ve made a terrible error. It may be more than a little tempting to pretend it hasn’t happened and hope it will go away, but whatever you do, resist. It’s how you deal with life’s challenges that reveals your true character. Own up, face the music and take responsibility. And whatever you do, learn your lesson and don’t make the same mistake again.

4. Understand your strengths and weaknesses

No one is good at everything, and you are no different. The chances are that you are excellent at some things, average at a few and less competent at others. The best organisations employ people with complementary skill sets. Start by recognising and cultivating your particular talents as this is where you can shine. You can always get help from other people on things you are weak at, so be honest with yourself about what these are.

5. Learn to delegate

Delegation is one of the hardest skills for a junior lawyer to master. People resist delegating for several reasons. One is the embarrassment that you are asking someone else, possibly someone older than you, to do something for you. You may fear you are going to be perceived as too high and mighty for the task at hand.

Or, you may think it is easier to do the job yourself as you know it will get done properly and more quickly than if you have to explain it to someone else and wait for them to do it.

The truth is that as you rise higher in the profession, your time becomes more valuable. You should aim to spend it doing work that makes the most of your skills and experience and delegating the rest.

6. Professional reputation

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffet. That says it all.

7. Find a mentor… and be a mentor

If your firm offers a structured mentoring programme, by all means, use it. But many mentoring relationships are informal and evolve naturally. Find someone you admire and whose advice you value, and ask them if they would be willing to share their knowledge and experience to help your career. Clarify what you expect from the mentoring and make sure you keep them updated about your progress, especially if they give you specific advice.

Also, be willing to mentor someone more junior than you. Not only will it improve your leadership skills, you are likely to be energised by their energy and enthusiasm.

8. Stay in the loop, but avoid the gossip

If you want to be trusted and respected at all levels of the firm, avoid being a gossip. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have your ear to the ground so that you know what is going on around you. But gossiping about other people will almost inevitably backfire on you, however much you think you can trust the people you are sharing it with.

9. Cultivate contacts outside work

As you rise through the firm, you will be expected to contribute much more than chargeable hours. The ability to bring in clients will set you apart from your peers, so get out there and network and start building your contacts list now.

10. Strive for work/life balance

There’s a lot of talk about how firms need to ensure their staff have the right work/life balance, but this responsibility starts with you. Get enough exercise, go for a walk and some fresh air during the working day, keep up your hobbies and make sure you take all your holidays. Work hard, but set your own boundaries and stick to them.

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How and when should you tell your training firm you are joining another firm on qualification?

How should you tell your training firm you are leaving? Who should you notify and when? We’re frequently asked these questions by NQs who have secured a new role on qualification and decided to leave.

Here’s a typical NQ scenario.

You’re about to qualify and have been offered a position as an associate at a firm other than your training firm. You want to accept.

Your training firm hasn’t yet notified you if they want to keep you on even though your qualification date is rapidly approaching. This has been a source of frustration for some months and has been a topic of endless discussion with your fellow trainees.

Part of you wants to tell your firm as soon as possible that you are leaving. But you feel guilty in a way, as if you are letting them down. You feel especially bad for one or two partners who have mentored you during your training contract.

Another part of you is annoyed that you are being taken for granted. If your existing firm has no qualms about waiting until the last minute to let you know, why should you not do the same to them?

Who should you tell, what should you say and when?

Before you do anything…

First of all, don’t say anything until you have a signed contract from your new firm. An offer is not enough, even if you have confirmed your acceptance. Sign on the dotted line before you do anything.

Also, if your training firm has paid your LPC fees or helped in another way towards your qualification, check that they are not entitled to claw money back if you leave upon qualification.

Now take a step back

You can do a lot worse at this stage than heed words of the famous Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius: “If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.”

In brief, do and say the right thing. Remember, you are at the start of a career that you hope will be long and rewarding. Your reputation counts for a lot in law and once lost can be difficult to regain.

In practical terms, this means acting with responsibility and dignity.

So, tell your training partner and HR face-to-face as soon as possible. Be honest about your reasons. If it’s because you were fed up waiting to hear if you were being kept on, tell them. If it is to go to a more prestigious firm or do different work, explain this.

Don’t be under the illusion you are letting anyone down. Law firms are hard-nosed and commercial. People come and go for all sorts of reasons. They may be sorry to lose you (or at least say they are) but in all honesty they probably have far bigger concerns to worry about.

Whatever you do, don’t fall into the trap of thinking you are somehow getting your own back by waiting until they tell you if you are being kept on before informing them that you are leaving. This does you no favours and isn’t fair on other trainees. It will come across as petty.

There’s a comment in a post on one of the legal news websites where the person commenting (named ‘Anon’, not surprisingly) recounts a tale of revenge from when they qualified. Anon explains how their training firm had a practice of not telling trainees if they were being kept on until after they qualified. Anon secured an NQ role before qualification and to give them a taste of their own medicine, didn’t notify the firm they were leaving.  Anon simply failed to turn up for work the day they qualified on the basis that their contract had expired. Here’s the kicker though. Anon had arranged a mediation with a client in another city for the day they qualified. No one from the firm attended the mediation (which the client went ahead with anyway) and the client later sued the firm for negligence. 

This may have made Anon feel good and is an excellent story, but at what cost? No doubt the firm was arrogant and unprofessional, but it reflects equally poorly on Anon. If it didn’t, they would not have been reticent to put their name to the comment rather than remain anonymous. 

You should aim to keep on good terms with the firm and the people who work there as you never know what is around the corner. You may end up working with some of the same people again either because you later join the same firm or as a result of a merger. You might deal with them on the other side of a transaction, or they may become in house counsel for one of your clients. You could even end up going back to the firm later in your career.

In a nutshell, be diplomatic. And in being diplomatic, take heed of the wise words of Winston Churchill: “Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions.”

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