ARTICLE

Leading Through Change: Supporting the Next Generation’s Vision.

Introduction

Whilst preparing this article, I began by reading the most recent Young Lawyers’ Report produced by the International Bar Association in 2022 which provides good insight into what junior lawyers are looking for from their legal workplaces.

Firstly, it is clear that junior lawyers want a challenging career with a good work/life balance. This is of course logical because to give 100% to your role, you need downtime to rest, spend time with family and pursue outside interests. They are attracted to roles with good career prospects plus opportunities to learn. Salary and a wide variety of work are also important factors when choosing a role. Junior lawyers also want to work in firms/companies with greater diversity and a culture that supports personal well-being.

One of the biggest fears about the legal sector is the higher-than-normal rate of harassment and bullying compared to other sectors. Junior lawyers are unwilling to put up with the negative impact of poor culture on their personal well-being and mental health (and rightly so). 

Future leaders

Currently, SRA data reports that in law firms in England, 53% of lawyers are women, 19% are black, Asian and minority ethnic lawyers and 6% are disabled (compared to 16% of the general workforce). In law firms, women make up 62% of solicitors. However, only 32% of full-equity partners and 47% of salaried partners are women. These percentages have been and are improving every year. Therefore, there is hope that in 200 years from now we will have achieved parity! However, the key issues preventing improvement in these statistics are the gender pay gap, unconscious bias and flexible working.

I focus on women leaders because several studies report that women’s leadership style results in better work/life balance and a positive culture, leading to happier lawyers and better retention. It is no secret that many junior lawyers are leaving the profession (see the IBA’s Young Lawyers’ Report 2022) and that retention of good lawyers in firms is a challenge.

AI technology

There is a fear that AI technology will take away our jobs. My view is no it will not! Lawyers work hard and long hours, yet there are ways to work smarter by investing in AI technology to assist our roles. The in-house legal sector is ahead of private law practice in the use of AI technology and more often than not I hear that in-house roles come with much better work/life balance.

I was chatting to a family member recently who is in the process of purchasing a property and he had noted that his conveyancing solicitor had sent him emails around midnight on three consecutive nights. Could this be a result of flexible working? This would be a positive on the one hand, e.g. perhaps the conveyancing lawyer was dealing with young children during the early evening then picked up and completed work tasks in the late evening; on the other hand, the lawyer would not have had much downtime, negatively impacting on her work/life balance.

Streamlining work processes by using AI technology should be embraced and indeed larger firms have already adopted AI, the advantages being that repetitive work, such as drafting contracts, can be performed more efficiently, freeing up time to work on the complexities and nuances of the law as well as helping to achieve a better work/life balance. 

Conclusion

Achieving the vision of junior lawyers in the legal profession would benefit us all.

Amanda Lathia,

Co-deputy Vice President Westminster & Holborn Law Society

Resources

BA’s Young Lawyers’ Report 2022: https://www.ibanet.org/ document?id=IBA-Young-Lawyers-Report-2022

SRA’s diversity in law firms: https://www.sra.org.uk/sra/equality-diversity/ diversity-profession/diverse-legal-profession/ Law careers.net article: https://www.lawcareers.net/Explore/LCNSays/Thewomen-who-changed-the-legal-industry

Law Society’s report on women in leadership: https://www.lawsociety.org. uk/topics/research/women-in-leadership-in-law-report-need-for-genderequality

International women’s forum: https://www.iwforumuk.org/

Chap GPT benefits for law firms: https://www.inherent.com/chatgptbenefits-for-law-firms-part-4-of-4-all-of-the-above/

Impact of generative AI on legal research and contract analysis: https:// www.inherent.com/the-impact-of-generative-ai-on-legal-research-andcontract-analysis/