There is currently a significant divide amongst junior lawyers in terms of remuneration. Whilst the cream of the crop are commanding starting salaries of £150k, many junior solicitors are struggling to make ends meet. Money aside, work satisfaction and the ability to strike the right work-life balance is often dependent upon the particular culture of each law firm.
The importance of being able to restrict how much work eats into personal life can be extrapolated from a survey of lawyers across the pond. The found that 60% of midlevel associates said they would consider moving jobs for a better work-life balance, whereas only 27% said they would leave for more money.
The good news for junior lawyers is that there are now more options than ever to pursue a legal career. Traditional law firms are having to consider ways of attracting the best talent in the face of competitive recruitment from Alternative Legal Service Providers (ALSPs). So let’s take a look at some of the new exciting career paths open to junior lawyers.
Platform law firms are akin to barristers chambers which have been designed for solicitors. Sometimes known as virtual or distributed firms, they allow solicitors to operate as self employed practitioners, without the headaches of running a law firm. The firm provides essential business services such as administration, marketing and insurance, and allows each solicitor to build up their own client base and practice. Platform law firms, examples of which include Keystone Law, Excello Law and gunnercooke, tend to harness legal technology and often lead the way in legal innovation.
One of the benefits of the platform model, according to James Harper, senior general counsel at UUÂãÁÄÖ±²¥, is that it can offer a way back for lawyers who have paused their careers, either to have children or provide family care, therefore helping to improve diversity in the legal profession:
“It can offer things that other law firms can’t, for example the flexibility of someone returning after maternity and being able to work around school hours … If you look at the upper echelons of law firms and their lack of diversity, particularly of senior female leadership, that is something that would suit this model and is an opportunity for growth.â€
Although most newly qualified lawyers will generally need to get a few years of experience under their belt first in a traditional solicitors practice, it’s no surprise that many have their eyes on a platform law firm as an alternative to following the partner track.
Several large City firms, including Allen & Overy (A&O), Eversheds Sutherland and Linklaters, have set up their own versions of gig-economy style resourcing units, using legal tech. Essentially they link up freelance lawyers with clients who require some additional legal resources during a temporary project. Junior lawyers who are looking for a truly flexible option will appreciate the freedom provided by this model.
Many ALSPs create law firm technology and require solicitors to help build their legal solutions and software. Since these are often essentially IT companies, the culture is generally more flexible and casual compared to traditional firms; jeans and t-shirts are normally favoured over suits and ties. Lawtech focused ALSPs can also encourage lawyers to broaden their skillset, possibly turning their hand to some coding, and this will appeal to many junior lawyers who are undecided about their careers.
The Big Four accountancy firms all now have established legal arms which employ thousands of legal professionals. A career in one of the Big Four may have more in common with Big Law than other alternative routes, but the culture is still quite distinct. There’s normally more of a focus on optimising legal solutions and business processes rather than pure law, which can be attractive to business-minded junior lawyers.
Many corporate firms are retaining an agile working policy post-Covid, at least in part. Freshfields is one of the latest Big Law firms to that it will allow staff to work remotely 50% of time. Many other corporate practices have implemented an array of flexible and family-friendly policies and have won for enabling a healthy work-life balance - including: DWF, Fieldfisher, RPC and Shoosmiths.
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