studentatlaw.co.uk

With the ever worsening economic climate we are finding that more and more people are losing their jobs – either being dismissed for not hitting targets or be removed from their positions under cover of redundancy.

If this has happened to you then you will need to make sure you engange the services of specialist unfair dismissal solicitors to make sure that they can reveiw your situation properly and then properly advise you on what the next best steps are to make sure your case is heard properly and perhaps recover compensation.

Just a very quick post this morning to suggest readers have a look at this infographic, makes for very interesting, if rather depressing reading. As we always say, we are not seeking to put people off from a career in law, but it is important that the true prospects for the profession are known.

Any comments ?

Sometimes, there’s little or no point regurgitating or passing an opinion on a piece of legal news or an article. This is one such occasion. there is an excellent piece in today’s Guardian about the reality of life working in a City law firm. this is not to say, as the article makes clear, that there aren’t big advantages and prospects of working in a top 200 firm and many trainees would jump at the chance.

The article also perhaps doesn’t say much about the long working hours culture that many btrainess or prospective trainees won’t already know. what is maybe more interesting is the research that there is a limit to productivity and that the classic corporate transactions which take place could be better resourced and planned.

What’s your take on this ?

Reality of life in a city law firm

Chargeable hours – historically these are the lifeblood of a big law firm, the bane of many client jokes and controversial in terms of transparency of costs exposure. Many law firms are responding to client driven demands to move away from this model of charging whenever possible, but like most things legal, change is gradual at best.

So, what are the general chargeable hours billing targets in major law firms ?

The consensus seems to be that expectation for billable hours annually should be 1,600 and north of that. Taking into account non-billable time, holidays and so forth, this is a fairly big ask and will often result in lawyers being office bound for 10-11 hours a day.

In the boom times, lawyers were often induced to significantly exceed their billable hours targets by a generous bonus structure but as times have changed and there is a surfeit of good lawyers available, a different kind of pressure has been exerted.

Yellow, red & green

The legal press have recently reported (we are not in a position to confirm or deny this) that target compliance has got tough in at least one major law firm, Reynolds Porter Chamberlain. It seems they have software which provides a constant reminder of performance as regards change of colour on the fee earner screen with red relating to underperformance, yellow equates to satisfactory compliance and yes, you guessed it green is go go go on performance !.

Meanwhile, rival firms Taylor Wessing, Field Fisher Waterhouse and Morton Fraser  are reported to now internally publish billing performance of their lawyers to improve “competitiveness”.

All sounds like Foxtons to me !

Incidentally, Slaughter and May, highly successful, do not have annual billing targets.

Scottish lawyers – an altogether more sensible approach

The legal press in the last few weeks has highlighted what many have known for a long time – there are far too many solicitors in England & Wales, with explosive growth not only in the number of students attending law school at considerable expense, but also in the number of qualified lawyers and paralegals. In Scotland, there has also been a sizeable increase, but in terms of scale and multiples, the figures are much more sensible and sustainable. The growth in qualified lawyers in Scotland  represents a rise in numbers from some 3,500 in 1949 to 10,380 today. In Scotland, another altogether more sensible trend is that, according to Lorna Jack, the current Chief Executive of the Law Society of Scotland, there has been a significant swing into working in house, with an increasing number of public and private sector organisations employing solicitors.

So, in addition to considerable lifestyle benefits, perhaps English students determined to follow a legal career should seriously consider the Scottish alternative and no, we are not paid agents for the Scottish tourism board !

Hope you find these useful, after all lawyers love facts !

• Over 50% of law school finalists seek a training contract in London, while just  11% plan to work in the North
• Less than 50% of  law school students believe they will stay with their first firm after qualifying
• Almost 25% think they will earn over £100,000 by the age of 30
• When applying for training contracts, applicants prioritise the quality of training offered, the firm’s reputation plus starting salary.
• 10% of final year students studying all subjects at the UK’s top 20 universities plan to work as lawyers.
• Corporate law and property law are the most popular areas of law with law students

Few would argue that a career in the law remains, on the face of it, attractive for many reasons. Being a lawyer is seen as a job with societal high standing, stability and well paid. Unfortunately, for students who do not obtain training contracts in the top 500 firms in the country, the prospects are perhaps no longer as attractive as was the case. Statistically, there have been many more qualifiers through law school than there are placements for training contracts and there are now many paralegals who may never become fully qualified lawyers. On top of this, many highly qualified and experienced solicitors have been made redundant over the past few years, and the reasons for this may not all be down to recession.

However, things are not all doom and gloom. the law remains a highly challenging and exciting career, with the ability for constant intellectual challenge and growth. The job remains fundamenatlly very interesting and can be financially rewarding, it is really a case of anyone considering such a career being fully “briefed” and making informed choices as early as possible. We hope this site and the information provided will help law students in making decisions about their careers.

When considering a legal career, there is a vast difference between working at a firm like Clifford Chance than working for  smaller commercial practice such as Darlingtons Solicitors in London or a niche type practice such as a law firm which only provides divorce advice  or handles personal injury work. and then down to a sole practitioner. Being a  lawyer in these different types of firm can literally be akin to working in completely different fields.

Many law students might also want to consider that there are many other useful and potentially rewarding careers, including in financial terms, where a law degree or qualification can assist with entry. aside from the obvious city banking type roles, which are incredibly competitive, there are areas related to law, such as corporate investigations and due diligence where a legal background can greatly assist and where the work is in some respects akin to being a lawyer in private practice.