Working Life

For many young people, experiences are more important than careers. Rather than demand a steady progression up the career ladder, they are seeking flexibility and the ability to challenge and reinvent themselves. We look at how law firms will adapt to these demands and what this means for the legal career of the future.

What do young lawyers expect from their job? The reflex answer you expect is: “To become a partner”.

This may still be true for some, but by no means for all.

“Becoming a partner at their law firm has long been the prize for young lawyers,” said a recent article in the Financial Times. “Along with high pay, it was the enduring incentive to work gruelling hours and perform mundane tasks. But a generation of trainees want something different; the partnership track has ruptured.”

If young professionals don’t want partnership, what do they want? According to Deloitte’s latest human capital trend survey, modern careers “can be viewed as a series of developmental experiences, each offering the opportunity to acquire new skills, perspectives, and judgment. Careers in this century may follow an upward arc, with progression and promotion at various times—but they will look nothing like the simple stair-step path of generations ago.”

This change in attitude has been driven by technology. On the one hand, young lawyers resent being ‘on’ and contactable 24/7 by clients and colleagues. On the other hand, millennials embrace the flexibility technology offers. The gig economy has opened up a new way of working for so many people, why, they argue, should law firms be any different? The fact that virtually anyone can be working, or even be their own boss, with nothing more than a laptop and a mobile phone is hugely alluring.

The end game for law firms is that unless they adapt, they will struggle to attract and retain the staff they need. This is recognised in a report on UK law firms by PwC, which places a shortage of talent as one of four issues law firms need to consider if they are to remain resilient in the years ahead. “Is there a flexible working culture that meets the needs of the workforce?” the report asks.

Some firms are embracing this. Norton Rose Fulbright says in its publication Meet the law firm of the future, that next generation law firms will (among other things) “create new roles, businesses and functions”.

This is exactly what Lewis Silkin has done with its ‘Rockhopper’ service. Rockhopper offers fixed fee HR support from experienced employment lawyers who have opted for greater flexibility – such as working from home or even abroad – in return for less pay.

It is this type of flexibility that has driven the rapid growth of firms such as GunnerCooke and Keystone Law.

Many of the new roles and functions Norton Rose Fulbright mentions come as a result of ever more advanced technology. Much of the work currently undertaken by people is being carried out by machines, or a combination of the two. As a result, the role of people is changing. “As AI and other advanced technologies permeate the workplace, skills such as critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving gain in importance,” says Deloitte.

This is reinforced in an article by Allen & Overy’s former senior partner David Morley in The In-House Lawyer in which he talks about the damage that can be wreaked simply by lawyers having poor conversational skills:

“I have seen client relationships wrecked, associates demoralised, and business opportunities go begging because key conversations were avoided or mishandled by partners,” says Morley. “As one law firm partner said to me recently: ‘It’s interesting to reflect on why lawyers seem to concentrate so much on what is written and yet so little on what is said.’”

Morley concludes that conversations require “human qualities of empathy, compassion, contextual understanding, judgement and emotional intelligence – in a word: humanity. Qualities that will become even more important to lawyers’ work as machines and artificial intelligence consume the grunt work.”

Deloitte’s report says more than half of its respondents (not law firms but large corporates) have no training in place to build these vital skills of the future. I have no doubt lawyers are as guilty of this as the corporates they represent. And, says Deloitte in wording that will ring a bell for anyone who has ever worked in a law firm: “Internal mobility is still often driven by tenure, title, and internal politics.”

This mismatch between the skills required and those rewarded by promotion will lead to firms being unable to retain their best talent. Successful firms of the future will offer the training their staff demand and need, the opportunity to change their roles as they grow and a culture that embraces this flexibility.

Will law firms step up to the mark?

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If you would like to take the next step in your legal career, or if you are looking to hire solicitors at NQ to 2 PQE, register now with NQ Solicitors or call 020 3709 9165 to find out more.

Firms that focus on the well-being of their staff and partners are the ones that will increasingly attract and retain the top legal talent over the coming years. But what exactly falls within the definition of “well-being” and are firms currently doing enough?

It’s not exactly news that being a lawyer is stressful. On International Mental Health Day last October, The Times ran an article specifically about mental health and lawyers, saying: “While mental illness can strike anyone at any time, lawyers in high-stress positions are thought to be particularly prone to it.” This is due, says the article, to the fact that lawyers tend to be highly ambitious perfectionists who carry a lot of responsibility.

That’s not to say it is only those at the top of the legal tree with the most responsibility who are feeling the strain. A survey of junior lawyers by the Law Society’s Junior Lawyer’s Division (JLD) last year revealed that 82% of those surveyed felt regularly or occasionally stressed and 26% felt extremely stressed.

Most tellingly of all, two-fifths have looked for another job as a result of stress levels at their current job. Kayleigh Leonie, the JLD’s Law Society council member, said of the results: “The legal profession is at risk of losing some of its best talent if employers do not begin to embrace their employees’ well-being as a key asset for their business.”

Alarmingly, many junior lawyers feel unable to ask for help, thinking it will be perceived as a sign of weakness. As the Times reports: “One of the many privileges of being at the top of the hierarchy is that support is on tap if things get tough. More junior staff might not feel so empowered.”

Some firms are heeding the calls to do more on mental health. Reed Smith, for example, last year launched ‘Wellness Works’, a firm-wide programme aiming to promote and support the well-being of its lawyers and staff.

According to Deloitte’s latest human capital trends survey, wellness is one of the top three trends shaping human capital. “As the line between work and life blurs, providing a robust suite of well-being programs focused on physical, mental, financial, and spiritual health is becoming a corporate responsibility and a strategy to drive employee productivity, engagement, and retention,” the report says.

There are some interesting points from the above quote and the report in general that law firms would be well advised to take note of:

Work-related stress is on the rise

Work-related stress is nothing new, but it is getting worse. This is largely due to the relentless pace of business today, driven by the always-on nature of digital devices and round-the-clock working styles. The endless stream of emails and messages means people find it virtually impossible to disconnect from their job, even on holiday. This is especially true of lawyers.

Well-being is not just about mental health

It is easy to think of well-being as being only or mainly about mental health, but it goes deeper than this. Deloitte lists “financial wellness, mental health, healthy diet and exercise, mindfulness, sleep, and stress management, as well as changes to culture and leadership behaviours to support these efforts” as falling under the wellness banner. To focus solely on mental health is partly missing the point. For example, research has found that student loan support is one of the most highly regarded well-being benefits for young people. Another is the opportunity to work as a volunteer during company time.

There is a substantial gap between what employees value and what companies offer

Deloitte says that two-thirds of organisations claim that the well-being of their staff is a vital part of their culture and brand. They recognise that it is a crucial measure of their ‘corporate citizenship’. We don’t have figures for law firms, but we would estimate that among the top firms most, if not all, would say staff well-being is an important issue.

What’s interesting is that there is a substantial gap between what employees value and what companies offer. For example, Deloitte cites the fact that 86% of employees would prefer a flexible schedule yet only 50% of companies offer one. Designated office space for wellness is valued by 70% of employees yet only 27% of firms offer it. There are similar discrepancies in relation to mental health counselling, the provision of healthy snacks, and reimbursement for well-being expenses.

Providing well-being benefits is an investment, not an overhead

Organisations that baulk at the potential cost of providing these well-being benefits are missing out. The report states: “There is growing evidence to support the idea that well-being drives performance. Research shows that the costs of lost productivity are 2.3 times higher than medical and pharmacy costs.”

Furthermore, a survey by Deloitte of major organisations has revealed that:

• 43% believed that well-being reinforces their organisation’s mission and vision;

• 60% reported that it improves employee retention;

• 61% said that it improves employee productivity and bottom-line business results.

The upshot is that firms should make well-being a top priority because it is an expected trade-off for the 24/7 nature of work and is the right thing to. But if those aren’t reasons enough, there will be real benefits for their productivity, talent retention and, ultimately, their bottom line.

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If you would like to take the next step in your legal career, or if you are looking to hire solicitors at NQ to 2 PQE, register now with NQ Solicitors or call 020 3709 9165 to find out more.

Junior lawyers and paralegals have been described as an endangered species due to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). But how true is this? In this blog, we consider the possible impact of AI on junior lawyers and ask whether its emergence is a blessing or a curse.

There’s a chilling quote in a recent paper by professor of law, John Flood. “In all probability elite big law firms will retrench to a model closer to the nineteenth century one,” he says. “There will be a small number of partners and a large cohort of mostly underqualified or uncredentialled clerks who have little or no possibility of rising through the firm.”

This, says Flood, who is professor of law at Griffith University in Australia, is because AI is now able to carry out jobs that involve high degrees of repetition and relatively simple processes. The result is that junior associates and paralegals are an “endangered species” and if they are culled from firms there will be no career path to partnership.

Last year, a report by the Law Society predicted that jobs within the profession will be “increasingly affected by automation of legal services functions”. It estimates that by 2038 total employment in the legal sector could be 20% less than it would otherwise have been, with 78,000 fewer jobs.

AI is already having an impact at some firms. In a recent interview in Legal Cheek, Travers Smith’s finance partner and co-head of graduate recruitment Danny Peel explained how AI products benefit the firm: “It might previously have taken several hours of intensive work to bring a 300-page loan agreement precedent to a point where you can start tailoring it to the transaction in question,” he said. “But with this software the same process can be completed much more quickly. Technology has been transformative — sometimes saving hours of time, making life easier for our lawyers and helping keep our clients’ costs down.”

This all sounds rather dispiriting for aspiring lawyers, but there are two sides to every coin and from another perspective AI can be seen in a different light.

For one thing, despite the fact that 85% of law firms of all sizes say that automation is important, according to a recent report in The Times, only 20% of UK law firms have actually invested in AI to date. It seems that those firms that are adopting AI are largely those from the top end of the market. A survey last year revealed that two thirds of the 30 largest UK law firms were conducting paid work using AI.

Interestingly though the report in The Times also revealed that firms were focusing on three core areas for AI: time recording for billing, improving budgeting accuracy, and identifying opportunities through “relationship mapping”.

In other words, for the most part the focus at the moment seems to be away from automating legal work currently done by people. This is despite the fact that AI already has the capability to transform the provision of legal services. Areas in which it is already making a difference include:

• Document review by using keyword analysis.

• Legal research by identifying relevant cases and legal precedents.

• Discovery by scanning huge amounts of data digitally.

• Contract creation, review and management by scanning contracts in a matter of seconds and interpreting loan agreements. JP Morgan now has a programme that it claims will save 360,000 legal and compliance man hours a year.

• Predictive analytics by analysing historic data from case law, judges’ rulings, the legal strategies of opposing counsel and winning arguments and determining the likelihood of their claim succeeding. LexisNexis’s product Lex Machina is one such example and is already widely used in the US.

These are just some of the ways AI can and already does improve lawyers’ lives, undoubtedly for the better. The important thing when looking at this list is to recognise that AI is merely an aid. Many remain steadfast in their belief that AI cannot replace a lawyer’s critical skills: the ability to provide strategic advice in complex cases and to understand and respond to a client’s needs.

Rather than seeing AI as a threat, lawyers should welcome it. AI can eliminate some of the mundane, time consuming aspects of the job, freeing them up to apply their legal skill and expertise at a more advanced level (and at a higher chargeable rate).

This is something even Professor Flood recognises in his paper, despite his seemingly pessimistic prediction for the profession. He concludes that the relationship of trust between client and advisor will become critical, something no machine can ever replicate.

“Trusted advisors and trusted brokers will be in high demand in a world wracked with populism and nationalism; someone must be able to communicate over these boundaries and connect with those on the other side,” he says. “Lawyers, because their basic tool is language are ideally suited for these roles.”

Not only is Bristol one of the most thriving legal centres outside of London, last year it topped The Sunday Times Best Places to Live Guide. The city was described in the guide as ‘a small city that feels like a big city, handily placed for seaside and scenery, but hardly cut off from the rest of the country’.

It is no surprise therefore that Bristol is such a popular destination for ambitious lawyers seeking that all-important work/life balance.

We spoke to Angela Parfitt, Resourcing Specialist at independent UK law firm Burges Salmon LLP and asked what Bristol in general and Burges Salmon in particular have going for them.

Burges Salmon is renowned for the quality of its work, which is ‘as good as any magic circle firm’, according to Chambers UK. Bristol is also becoming a legal hub, so people from London are attracted to the area and they get a better work/life balance.

A lot of our lawyers have relocated from London, so it’s a well-trodden path for candidates to make the move. When they move to us, we help them by providing the assistance of a relocation agent.

While commuting in London can often mean two hours a day on crowded public transport, nearly 50% of Burges Salmon employees either walk or cycle to work. There’s also a ferry service for commuters. This means commuting could be a half-hour walk door-to-door. Nearly two years after joining the firm, one of our people commented: “The novelty of having my evenings free just never gets old!”

It’s not just the relaxed commute and improved work/life balance that is drawing people to the city. If you’ve ever visited Bristol, you’ll know that it’s a great place for anyone who likes their food. There are a huge number of different restaurants to choose from and there are new places opening all of the time.

Bristol is famous for its cider and it’s fantastic for beer lovers, too. There are many great pubs all across the city and surrounding countryside. We’re quite spoilt at Burges Salmon, as we have a lot of different options within walking distance of the office, which are ideal for Friday after-work drinks. Some favourites include Moor Brewery, Wild Beer Co and the Grain Barge.

The countryside is easily accessible and just a short journey out of the city you will find yourself in some amazing places such as the Mendip Hills (where our running club competes in Uphill to Wells), the Cotswolds or Westonbirt Arboretum. Bath is only ten minutes by train and many National Trust estates are also close by.

There are always things to do in Bristol. There are some iconic sites, such as Clifton Suspension Bridge, SS Great Britain and The Matthew. You may also wish to visit the Harbourside, Cabot Tower, Clifton Downs Observatory or Bristol Zoo, as well as Clifton Village, Cabot Circus and Cribbs Causeway for shopping. Big events also include the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, Bristol Harbour Festival, as well as West End theatre shows (that have come to Bristol’s theatres), exhibitions (such as Banksy) and live music.

We are noting a marked increase in interest from candidates who are looking to relocate away from London and Bristol is one of the cities most in demand. Angela’s glowing report on life in Bristol and the quality of work makes it easy to see why.

How important is a law firm’s culture when choosing which firm to join as an NQ? And how do you even go about determining what that culture is and whether it is a good fit for you?

I read recently that Hogan Lovells has installed an indoor putting green in its new Birmingham office. The “Gallimore Green” has been named in homage to one of its partners, Michael Gallimore, who is by all accounts a bit of a golf nut.

The workspace has other facilities too, such as a coffee house, gym and table tennis area. It sounds less like solicitors’ office and more like a We Work-style co-working space. Michael Gallimore said of it: “We want to provide our people with challenging and exciting client work, a supportive and ambitious culture, and a first-class working environment with excellent amenities.”

It brings to mind Richard Branson’s quote: “Create the kind of workplace and company culture that will attract great talent.”

That’s clearly Hogan Lovells’ thinking, as it is for many law firms. Firms talk a lot about their culture when recruiting staff, with phrases such a “nurturing”, “supportive” and “collegiate” never very far away.

In my experience, one of the most important things a candidate can do is look beyond what a firm says its culture is and more at how its culture is demonstrated. I had this in mind recently when I stumbled upon the website of a law firm in the south east (whose identity I won’t reveal) that featured standard issue profile shots of all the staff except the managing partner, who for some reason appeared in a long, curly wig, and a moustache and nose set in the style of Groucho Marx. I couldn’t work out if this was an attempt to show the firm’s sense of fun and informal style or a wind up perpetrated by the IT team. Either way, when I went back to the website to show a colleague, the picture had been replaced with a ‘normal’ profile shot matching all the others.

Then I read about Proximity law firm in Australia on Roll on Friday under the heading ‘Bonkers Law Firm Website’. The article refers to the fact that Proximity’s website explains how they’ve worked out “how to do things differently” and exist “at the pointy end” (whatever that means). Their profile pics alternate between the usual suited and booted look and the same people dressed for their hobbies: snowboarding, cycling, yoga, etc. Yes, it is a bit cheesy, but everyone is smiling, and you get a sense of what the firm must be like to work for.

I would still take this with a pinch of salt though. I always advise candidates thinking of joining a new firm to do two things:

• Establish what the firm’s culture is really like.
• Work out if that culture is a good fit for their own values and what they want in their working life.

Let’s look at these two aspects in more detail.

How do you establish what a law firm’s culture is?

You can do this by finding out what behaviour is expected and encouraged of its staff, and what behaviour is tolerated.

Despite what some firms say, many firms encourage individual effort over teamwork, rivalry between colleagues rather than harmony, the meeting of financial targets over staff wellbeing, disrespect towards clients ahead of relationship building.

Similarly, some firms give more lassitude towards “big-hitter” fee earners in relation to their behaviour, treat non-fee earners or junior staff with less respect than fee earners or senior staff, and take a cavalier attitude towards billing chargeable time to certain clients.

In contrast, it will be the culture at some firms to show genuine concern for their clients, the advice they give them and how much they charge for it. In addition, there will be mutual respect between colleagues at all levels within the firm, and care from the management for the health and welfare of their staff.

You can find out about these things by speaking to people who work at the firm or who used to work at the firm and by carrying out research online. You can glean a lot too from the interview process and your impressions when you are shown around the firm.

Work out what you want

While it’s true that this generation of junior professionals is more conscious of the importance of getting the right work/life balance, I am still surprised by how many NQs I speak to who haven’t thought through what they want from their career. You won’t know if you are a match unless you know what your priorities are in terms of culture and values.

What type of working environment do you want and what relationships do you expect to have with colleagues? Everyone is different; some people thrive in a highly competitive environment with a ‘macho’ work culture, other prefer a high degree of teamwork and sociability. Consider also the work/life balance you are comfortable with and how much time you want to see friends or family or to pursue your hobbies.

The important thing is to determine if the firm is a good fit for you rather than whether you could tolerate or make a go of it.

If you would like to take the next step in your legal career, or if you are looking to hire solicitors at NQ to 2 PQE, register now with NQ Solicitors or call 020 3709 9165 to find out more.

The survey of 350+ trainee and newly qualified solicitors we conducted this summer received plenty of attention in the legal press and generated a surge in sign-ups by junior lawyers on our platform. In this blog, we look at the reaction to the results of our survey and ponder whether law firms are missing the bigger picture in their training programmes.

As it’s our business to know which junior lawyers might be on the move and who might be hiring, we wanted to know what law firms do to help those trainee solicitors who are, for whatever reason, moving upon qualification. So, we designed a survey to discover more about what (if any) support final seat trainees receive if they are looking for a new role upon qualification.

Some of our key findings were:

• 72% of trainee and NQ solicitors felt that their firm should have provided support to final seat trainees who were not being kept on upon qualification.

• 53% said that their law firm offered no support at all to trainee solicitors who did not secure an NQ position.

• Only 30% of trainee solicitors had/have a solid back-up plan if they don’t secure a position as an NQ solicitor at their training firm.

After sharing our results with the legal press, the Law Society Gazette responded with an article under the title ‘Trainees ask for more support as retention season begins’. The article quotes Adele Edwin Lamerton, Chair of The Junior Lawyers Division of the Law Society, which has previously called on law firms to give trainee solicitors sufficient notice on whether or not they intend to hire them.

She says in the article: “Although firms cannot always control whether or not they keep trainees on, they can in most cases control how soon they let their trainees know about their future with the firm. To assist qualifying trainees, firms should consider holding exit interviews to discuss next steps and allowing them time off to attend interviews.”

Legal Cheek’s response to our findings, in its article entitled ‘Law firms are failing to support qualifying trainees who aren’t kept on’, included testimony we received from an NQ solicitor who received no support at all after being told by a large commercial law firm that she would not be offered an NQ position.

“This made me feel pretty unappreciated after working very hard for two years, and worried about finding a suitable position elsewhere,” she said. “It made me feel quite dispensable although I was still working six days each week as I was so busy. They wanted me to continue to work hard but for no purpose from my perspective other than to learn as much as possible before I left, which is why I did it. I found the firm surprisingly ruthless given their size and history.”

Unsurprisingly, these articles prompted some strongly expressed views in the comments sections of both publications.

If you read the comments, you’ll quickly realise that not everyone is sympathetic to the plight of aspiring lawyers who are required to leave their training firm upon qualification. There are quite a few accusations of “snowflakery”, etc.

However, both articles generated comments that were much more sympathetic towards those trainee solicitors who are not offered positions as NQ solicitors. Those on this side of the argument believe that law firms have an obligation to assist and support those who are moving onto pastures new.

So, who’s right?

On one side, you could argue that trainee solicitors should know that the fixed term training contract they signed is exactly that, and certainly no guarantee of a permanent position as an NQ solicitor. In addition, those who have been offered a training contract by a large City law firm while still at university, won’t have been treated too shabbily during the process. In addition to the handsome salary that they will have been paid during their training, (sometimes more than £50,000 during the second year of their training contract), some will also have benefitted from a sizeable maintenance allowance/grant while completing their sponsored LPC.

In addition, if at this stage in their career, a young professional is forced to show a bit of initiative and to plough their own furrow, isn’t that going to be what’s best for them in the long run? The legal sector can be pretty unforgiving and relentless, don’t we want legal professionals to be robust individuals?

On the flip side you could argue that, while trainee solicitors will know that their training contract has a fixed end date, they were attracted to apply for a training contract because their firm told them they will move heaven and earth to retain every trainee.

Yes, they may well have been paid handsomely as a trainee solicitor, but it’s not exactly a one-way street. Let’s not forget the long hours that they will have put in for two years, and the huge sums of money that they will have generated for their training firm (as their time is often charged out at more than £200 per hour).

And, while we’re discussing long hours, how exactly are those who are moving on supposed to find a new job while they’re still being asked to give blood, sweat and tears during the final few months of their training?

Lastly, let’s not forget that it may well be the first time in a young professional’s life that he or she will have faced rejection. If you secured straight As and ‘A’ Level, got into your first-choice university and secured a training contract with the law firm you always dreamt of working for, facing rejection from that firm is going to be a bitter pill to swallow. Is this not the time when that individual requires support the most?

The bigger picture

We think there is a bigger picture that law firms are missing in all this and it’s one we made in our earlier blog:

“Surely many of the skills trainees claim to want help with are ones they should have acquired as part of their training programme? If their training is really as rounded as firms claim, surely NQs will have the confidence and know-how they need to land their next role. Soft skills such as making a good impression at interview, the ability to network (online in the case of LinkedIn) are surely ones they should have already acquired. Are some firms letting down all their trainee solicitors by not giving quite the rounded training they claim?”

Our next survey will be asking firms about these issues. What duty do they think they owe to their trainees? Do they agree that the skills referred to are ones they should be acquiring anyway and will need if they are to progress within the firm, hopefully to partnership? To what extent do they offer training to acquire these skills or are planning to do so?

The survey results promise to be interesting and we will reveal them to you once they come in. Watch this space.