"Young person's game"? Society study looks at place of experienced lawyers

Whether law is seen as a “young person’s game” is one of the issues examined in a new research paper published by the Law Society of Scotland.

Published today, Experiences of Established Legal Professionals within the Legal Profession in Scotland focuses on issues facing more experienced professionals, an area that has been “under explored” in the past. The in-depth research is a follow-up to the Profile of the Profession study, which explored equality and diversity issues across the whole solicitor profession, attracting a huge response from the Society's members.

The research, which involved group and telephone interviews of solicitors, reports that some respondents agreed that certain relatively new areas of law – some corporate work, mergers and takeovers, technology law and the oil and gas sector, for example – were geared more towards younger people. Others said there was a perception that was the case when long hours were involved in legal work.

An element of “burnout” in the profession is also identified due to the numbers of solicitors, particularly partners, who either retired early or took on less demanding and pressurised roles.

However, other respondents “felt that experience (far more so than simply age) still counted for a lot”.

One respondent said that, while the younger generation of solicitors may be expected to work quicker and adapt better to new technology, they often lacked the knowledge and experience needed to find the best solutions, particularly in difficult or unusual situations.

Others believed that young professionals may have more limited opportunities for achieving partnership status.

In examining the experiences of more established lawyers, the study also looked at their motivations and aspirations, the consideration of other careers, succession and/or exit planning and experiences of the Society and its services.

The report makes a number of recommendations for improvements to the Society’s services, including providing training or mentoring on issues such as retirement, pension and succession planning; offering CPD courses and networking events for those at the later stages in their careers; providing career guidance to more mature lawyers; hosting a database of retired or semi-retired solicitors available for work; and clarifying issues around age discrimination.

Neil Stevenson, the Society’s director of representation and professional support, said: “The Profile of the Profession survey provided valuable insights into the legal profession and how it is working as a whole, but it was largely quantitative.

“This report builds on that by giving a much more detailed understanding of the issues facing older and more established Scottish solicitors, an area that had been under explored until now."

He added: "The Society believes that everyone in the profession should have the opportunity to fulfil their potential, regardless of age.

“One reason we carried out this work was to explore feedback that we might be better at supporting newer lawyers with careers advice and support, but not have the right services for those with more experience behind them.

“More information on ‘portfolio careers’ and planning for exit of the profession were early ideas raised. We will now consider the recommendations in the report in detail.”

Click here for an article in this month's Journal on the study and its findings.