He reportedly threatened to block her from practising law
A solicitor practising in Queensland, Australia, has been spared jail after sending a law student he dated for two weeks “hundreds of creepy messages and emails”, it’s been reported.
Solicitor Adrian Praljak’s LinkedIn page states that he’s worked at a range of firms since his admission in 2010, and studied at Bond University and the Australian National University. He is “always interested in networking” and has experience in corporate and criminal law.
More recently, however, Praljak experienced a new side of the criminal justice process after he pleaded guilty to bombarding a law student he briefly dated with messages that reportedly included a threat to block her admission to practise law. According to Gold Coast Bulletin, other messages read: “I can never be with you because you have slept with many men” and “how are you even a lawyer?”
Adrian Praljak
He has been sentenced to 18 months probation and 180 hours of community service. Praljak told us he dated the law student on-off for years, not for two weeks, and that the texts were “just communications between us throughout 2015/2016/2017… So in summary these were texts throughout our on and off relationship that’s all”.
As for the impact on Praljak’s professional career, Gold Coast Bulletin says the convicted solicitor has taken up a new role at “upmarket” firm James McConvill & Associates, but that his new employer “only learnt of his court case when the Bulletin asked for comment”. The firm tells us Praljak is not currently providing legal services until he can organise a new practising certificate.
It’s reported that the Queensland Law Society is investigating. Legal Cheek has reached out to Queensland Law Society for comment.
A very junior solicitor has been hauled before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) and suspended from practice for misconduct that took place a matter of months after he qualified.
Mohammed Abid was the first in his family to go to university and worked in a warehouse alongside his degree before he was admitted as a solicitor in November 2015. In July 2016, Abid — who was aged 27 and working for Imran Khan & Partners — attended Wood Green police station to see a man who had just been arrested. This man was a hardened criminal with 25 convictions who had just broken the eye socket of a visitor to his home (he’d eventually receive six years in prison for the attack).
During a private consultation, the young solicitor gave the suspect his phone to source his National Insurance number, which was needed to fill out legal aid forms. The suspect then called his partner, a key witness in the case, who was at that time at the police station giving her witness statement.
The SDT’s judgment states that Abid didn’t intervene when his client said to his girlfriend “don’t tell them anything”. The SRA’s barrister, Andrew Bullock, said “a solicitor of integrity would have taken immediate action at that time to attempt to retrieve the mobile phone and bring the conversation to an end”.
As a result of the phonecall, the suspect’s partner did not sign the witness statement. The SDT said Abid “had handed a potential weapon to a suspect which he could have used to drive a coach and horses through the prosecution case”.
The judgment goes on to say Abid “attempted to conceal his wrongdoing” to police.
A statement from a detective superintendent said that when Abid was asked whether he’d given his client his phone, Abid “looked shocked and animated stating that he had personally made a call to his office”. However, shortly after this “momentary act of denial” Abid said he’d allowed his client to use his phone to get his National Insurance number.
Barrister Veronica Ramsden, from Staple Inn Chambers, in mitigation presented the tribunal with testimonial from the director of the firm where Abid had completed his training contract. Mitigation continued:
“The respondent had seen the error of his ways, he had lost his job and would not be able to regain the situation in which he had been because of the stain on his character. The responded accepted that he had shown an appalling lack of judgement for which he apologised.”
The tribunal took into account that Abid “had been relatively young and inexperienced at the time” when deciding a sanction. The SDT said Abid’s conduct was “far too serious” to just reprimand or fine him, and landed on a six-month suspension. Abid — described as a “person of modest means” who had been earning around £20,000 until he left his firm in 2017 — was ordered to pay costs of £7,320.
Firm joins Clifford Chance in ‘Manhattan on the Thames’
Commuters take the escalator at Canary Wharf. Image credit: Ryan Tang for Unsplash
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is moving a substantial part of its operations to Canary Wharf, as it opens a new 500-person office in the east London business district.
The new Canary Wharf premises, located on Bank Street, close to rival Clifford Chance, will house a combination of business services staff and members of the firm’s alternative legal services team. The 495 members of staff are currently mostly based in office space in Finsbury Square, close to Moorgate Tube station, a few streets away from Exchange House. This office will close.
In a statement, HSF chief executive officer Mark Rigotti said:
“This initiative supports our service delivery strategy, in how we innovate and adapt to a changing world and how we deliver services. We are committed to creating a workplace — and a workforce — for the future, empowering our staff to work how they want to work. The choice of Canary Wharf was also heavily influenced by our desire to be close to our clients, with many of our major clients based in Canary Wharf.”
HSF’s other major UK office is in Belfast, where it “near-shores” more routine legal work to a combination of lawyers, legal analysts and e-discovery specialists. In total the firm has 26 offices in 20 different countries, including a major presence in Australia borne out of the 2012 merger between legacy firms Herbert Smith (of London, with offices globally) and Freehills (of Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, and across Asia).
Doughty Street barrister Amal Clooney and ex-corporate lawyer Chelsy Davy also expected to attend big event
Background image credit: Mark Jones via Creative Commons
Actors from every aspiring corporate lawyer’s favourite show, Suits, have descended on UK soil for their former co-star’s wedding to Prince Harry. Actors who play the characters Mike Ross, Donna Paulsen, Louis Litt and Harvey Specter will all be there.
Before Meghan Markle’s profile rocketed when her engagement to the flame-haired prince was announced in November, the American actress played Pearson Specter Litt paralegal Rachel Zane in the hit US TV programme Suits.
Many aspiring lawyers will likely relate to Markle’s character on the show: Zane had for years dreamed of attending Harvard Law School and becoming a lawyer, yet found herself stuck in paralegal limbo. Luckily, her lawyer story had a happy ending, and she eventually qualified.
Along the way, Zane fell in love and become engaged to Ross, an associate who wormed his way into the law firm despite not having graduated college nor having a law degree.
Patrick Adams, who plays Ross, is one of many Suits actors set to attend Markle’s nuptials tomorrow. Others flagging the (fictional) corporate lawyer flag are Sarah Rafferty (Paulsen), Rick Hoffman (Litt) and Gabriel Macht (Specter). Many have taken to Instagram to share what they’ve been up to in the United Kingdom so far.
The Suits gang will be in good company at the wedding of the year, which is set to kick off at about midday tomorrow in Windsor. The likes of Elton John, David and Victoria Beckham, James Blunt, Serena Williams, Millie Mackintosh, Cara Delevingne, Ellie Goulding and Geri Halliwell are expected to be among the 600 guests attending the ceremony.
There are also a number of lawyers reported to have scored an invite. Among those are Harry’s ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, a former Allen & Overy corporate lawyer, and human rights barrister Amal Clooney (and her husband George).
Watch Morven Ross’ video and the seven other finalists below
A Queen’s University Belfast first-year law student has triumphed in Herbert Smith Freehills’ (HSF) ‘Connect With Us’ competition, and will be heading on an all-expenses paid trip down under.
From over 1,500 entries, eight aspiring lawyers made it through to the grand final at HSF’s London office earlier this month. The prize up for grabs: a two-week trip down under and the opportunity to network with lawyers at HSF’s Sydney and Melbourne offices.
After completing a quiz about the firm, undergrad entrants were asked to submit a short video explaining how they have each connected with and improved a community. The videos (embedded below) showcase some pretty impressive community-focused exploits.
Herbert Smith Freehills’ ‘Connect With Us’ finalists
This month’s final saw each of the eight shortlisted entrants invited to the firm’s London office to give a presentation on how they would promote the firm’s brand while in Australia. The judging panel consisted of HSF lawyers and graduate recruitment staff.
And it was Queen’s University Belfast student Morven Ross who came out on top.
The veterinary medicine graduate turned law student is the secretary of Queen’s University Belfast’s Raise & Give (QUB RAG), a student fundraising group which prides itself on raising money creatively.
This year, QUB RAG raised a whopping £56,000 for four chosen charities. This was largely down to QUB RAG Week 2018 where the team hosted several quirky fundraising events including eating challenges, a big sleepout where participants slept in cardboard boxes in solidarity with the homeless, and a puppy petting day.
At the ‘Connect With Us’ final, Ross’ idea of a treasure hunt with a clue shared across the firm’s network every few days was well-received by the judges, as was her amusing legal meme-filled presentation. On her trip down under, Ross told Legal Cheek:
“I’m definitely going to try to connect with all the finalists before I leave and I’d love for them to feel as if they can join me on my journey. I also can’t wait to connect with the friends and family I have out there!”
Competition judge and HSF partner Rachel Lidgate said:
“We’re really proud of all the finalists — they came up with some really bold and innovative ideas. It’s a shame we could only pick one winner, but we are really excited about Morven’s next adventure.”
You can take a peek at the other finalists’ videos below:
Bhavika Tanna
Current LPC/LLM student at BPP, private tutor, abstract artist and former City Law School undergraduate.
Tanna says: “My video outlines the two ways in which I connect with my community. I tutor maths to GCSE students, and I also draw and paint abstract artwork which I then sell on Instagram to raise money for the Free Representation Unit (FRU).”
Daniel Appleby
Motorcycle racing enthusiast, maths whizz, part-time technical specialist at Monzo and fourth year at the University of York.
Appleby explains: “I highlight concerns about achieving education equilibrium no matter your background after working with inspirational people in Medellín, Colombia. I’ve also co-founded ‘Fuelling the Future’, a nationwide tuition service. I’d love to discover Australia one day and see some kangaroos!”
Julia Benedict
Budding coder and second-year law student at the University of Bristol.
Benedict says: “As a survivor of cancer, I got involved with the National Cancer Society Malaysia (NCSM) to raise awareness and offer support to young cancer patients. I now volunteer for the Bristol Marrow society where I encourage students to register as donors.”
Julia Ostendorf
National competitor and purple belt in jui-jitsu, multilinguist, former history and politics student at the University of Warwick and current GDL student at BPP.
Ostendorf tells us: “I’ve engaged with my community in a number of ways, including a recent 5km charity run for Cancer Research, and using my fluency in four languages to translate documents for vulnerable clients. I am excited to have made it this far in the competition!”
Matthew Lobo
Law graduate at Bangor University and current masters student at the University of Edinburgh.
Lobo says: “I talk about my role as managing director of Bangor’s Nightline student support service where I redrafted the core policies and relaunched the training programme to bring a 70-year old service up to modern standards. I’m shocked to have made it this far, but very pleased!”
Peter Alli-Idowu
Citizens Advice telephone assessor, former law student and current LPC student at the University of Central Lancashire.
Alli-Idowu shares: “I was a Victory Youth Group (VYG) mentor at my local church, the UCKG HealthCentre. I encouraged the youth in my community to stay away from negativity by conveying positive messages through drama, music and poetry performance.”
Bede Gallagher
Friend of Sefton Coast and second-year business and management with accounting and finance student at Edge Hill University.
Gallagher comments: “I founded ‘Only One Ocean’ with the aim of teaching school-aged children about the importance of recycling plastics and the dangers of plastic pollution in the ocean. I would have loved to bungee jump in Australia!”
Dentons has disciplined four trainees over allegations “concerning unauthorised access to confidential information” about the firm’s retention plans. The global giant said it was “deeply disappointed and saddened by this development”.
The rookies — who are understood to be in their final seats at the firm and in the process of applying for newly qualified (NQ) roles — were reportedly caught “snooping” on confidential HR documents, according to a firm insider. The source said the foursome “got called up to HR last Tuesday lunchtime and haven’t been allowed to come into work since”, according to weekly legal blog RollOnFriday.
A spokesperson for Dentons said: “While considering applications from trainees for positions as newly qualified solicitors, a number of conduct issues came to our attention concerning unauthorised access to confidential information relevant to that process.”
The outfit, which takes on around 30 trainees annually, confirmed all four trainees had been suspended while an investigation took place. The spokesperson continued:
“That investigation has now concluded and all individuals have been subject to disciplinary action. We expect our trainees to act with the highest standards of integrity and professionalism and are of course deeply disappointed and saddened by this development.”
Second-year trainees at Dentons are paid £44,000, rising to £70,000 on qualification, our Firms Most List shows. The City firm’s last trainee retention rate was 68%.
Retention and NQ postions aside, it has not been a great couple of weeks for the City’s young lawyers.
Last month, we reported that a trainee at Ince & Co had been shown the exit after failing to meet the firm’s “professional standards”. The shipping specialist stressed the decision “followed careful consideration”. This was quickly followed by a double training contact termination courtesy of Slaughter and May. Why? The aspiring lawyer twosome had failed to complete the Legal Practice Course (LPC) at the first time of asking.
Politicians’ knives out for cream of corporate law crop
Magic circle giant Linklaters has been slammed by MPs over its work on mega-money deals involving Russian businesses. The criticism, courtesy of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, comes just days after fellow magic circler Slaughter and May came under fire from Westminster after it emerged the firm had billed embattled construction giant Carillion in excess of £8 million in the 18 months prior to its collapse.
First up, Linklaters. The Foreign Affairs Select Committee cristicised the firm for failing to appear before it to give evidence on the flotation of Russian energy firm En+ on the London Stock Exchange.
A committee report, Moscow’s Gold: Russian Corruption in the UK, questions how the huge deal was able to go ahead given that VTB Bank, a sanctioned Russian bank, holds a stake in En+. The scathing report, published this morning, also queries how En+ was able to use the proceeds of the deal to repay an outstanding loan back to VTB.
The report states: “We regret their [Linklaters’] unwillingness to engage with our inquiry and must leave others to judge whether their work at ‘the forefront of financial, corporate and commercial developments in Russia’ has left them so entwined in the corruption of the Kremlin and its supporters that they are no longer able to meet the standards expected of a UK-regulated law firm.”
Responding to the criticism, a spokesperson for Linklaters said:
“We’re very surprised and concerned at the passing criticism of Linklaters in the report. We reject any suggestion based solely on the fact that we — like dozens of other international firms — operate in a particular market that our services may somehow involve the firm in corruption, state-related or otherwise.”
The report comes just days after MPs threw scorn on fellow magic circle outfit Slaughter and May, this to do with its involvement with construction firm Carillion, which entered into liquidation earlier this year with debts reportedly in excess of £1.5 billion.
A letter from Slaughter and May’s senior partner, Steven Cooke, to MPs revealed Carillion had ran up a legal bill of £8.38m with the elite law firm between 1 July 2016 and 15 January 2018. Of the final bill, £6.8m was paid. The letter, dated 20 February, was only made public after the Work and Pensions Committee and the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee jointly published a damning report into the fiasco last week.
The report said: “[N]ames such as Slaughter and May, Lazard, Morgan Stanley and EY were brandished by the [Carillion] board as a badge of credibility. But the appearance of prominent advisers proves nothing other than the willingness of the board to throw money at a problem and the willingness of advisory firms to accept generous fees.”
It continued: “[B]y the end, a whole suite of advisers, including an array of law firms, were squeezing fee income out of what remained of the company. £6.4m disappeared on the last working day alone as the directors pleaded for a taxpayer bailout.”
According to the report, Clifford Chance and Freshfields received payments of £149,104 and £91,165 just days before Carillion went under. Slaughter and May declined to comment.
As the clock ticks down to the solicitor super-exam’s anticipated 2020 implementation date, at least three universities are gearing up to incorporate Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) content into their undergraduate law degrees, Legal Cheek can reveal. They are: London South Bank University, The University of Law and BPP University Law School.
The first in this trio is planning to teach an “SQE-facing” law degree come 2020, says London South Bank University’s head of academic division law, Andy Unger. This means two things, he tells us: using SQE-style multiple-choice questions to test students’ knowledge in a legal practice context, and increasing the degree’s experience-learning dimension. He hopes this will produce “an exciting, clinical degree that helps students with preparation for SQE1”, the first part of the new exam that the regulator envisages will be taken pre-training contract. London South Bank is the only university in the trio planning a law degree overhaul that doesn’t offer the Legal Practice Course (LPC).
Unger says South Bank is committed to keeping interesting optional content and projects in its law degree, rather than steamrolling this with SQE-focused modules. Instead, the plan is to squeeze in SQE content at the expense of law taught on the periphery of core modules, which could instead be moved into optional modules. A potential example could be for EU citizenship law to be taught as a separate, optional module instead of as part of compulsory EU law, though we stress this is only an illustration and not something South Bank is specifically considering.
ULaw chief Peter Crisp seems to have committed more whole-heartedly to a law degree that incorporates SQE content, even at the expense of optional modules.
In a recent interview with Legal Cheek, legal education veteran Crisp said ULaw will be creating an undergraduate law degree that’s SQE compliant. He said that, in order to do so, it’s “likely” non-essential electives will be forsaken to make room for the topics the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) wants tested on the SQE. At this stage, these topics include: commercial and corporate law, the administration of estates and trusts, and principles of professional conduct.
Given arch-rival ULaw’s move into SQE-prep territory, it’s perhaps unsurprising BPP would consider doing the same.
A spokesperson for BPP said it’s been consulting with members of the legal profession about the training they require in light of upcoming changes to legal education. They continued:
“As a result of that widespread consultation, we are reviewing our entire portfolio of programmes to ensure that students are both prepared for the future of legal practice as well as to pass regulatory assessments.”
BPP has even introduced a new senior leadership team in response to the impending SQE. One of those, Jane Houston, says the law school will ensure “our programmes prepare students to meet the regulatory minimum standard set by the SQE”, and “will also ensure that they are able to develop into the commercially aware, resilient and reflective practitioners that the profession demands”.
Magic circle law firm Freshfields has revealed it will be delivering an earn-while-you-learn route to solicitor qualification within its Manchester hub.
The programme, which will be open to some of the firm’s 60 or so Manchester-based legal support assistants, builds on Freshfields’ existing paralegal scheme and will incorporate new developments to legal education, specifically the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE).
Legal Cheek understands Freshfields’ latest offering will be similar to the government-backed trailblazer programme already on offer at a number of top City firms. Apprentices on the six-year scheme split their time between working at a law firm on paid paralegal/trainee-level work and completing an LLB. Successful candidates then go on to study the Legal Practice Course (LPC) before qualifying as a fully-fledged solicitor.
However, change is afoot. Last April the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) confirmed it would be replacing traditional routes to qualification — the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) and LPC — with the SQE in September 2020.
In anticipation of this, Freshfields has confirmed its new solicitor apprenticeship programme will see the LPC being replaced by some sort of super-exam preparation. It’s still not clear how many aspiring solicitors the firm intends to put through the programme or when it’s due to be launched.
Apprenticeships aside, Freshfields is also looking to ramp up recruitment within Manchester. Reports suggest it is looking to take on around 15 junior solicitors through a combination of external hires and office transfers.
US law firms living in ‘false sense of security’ — is the same true in the UK?
A new US survey reveals what we knew already but didn’t dare say: there are a lot of partners out there doing not a whole lot of lawyering.
The Altman Weil 2018 report, its tenth survey of the US law firm market, found that 40% of US law firms blame “chronic lawyer under-performance” on partners who are, it says, “coasting to retirement”.
It reports that “the absence of rigorous management of lawyer and client transitions is a huge ongoing problem in the legal profession as Baby Boomers extend their careers ever longer”.
The report also, depressingly, paints a portrait of a market where lawyers at all levels are doing work which could be done by someone more junior or less qualified, or worse, by a piece of technology: “The hard reality is that too many lawyers are doing work they are significantly overqualified to do, and clients do not want to pay for that.”
As a result of these problems, “overcapacity is diluting profitability in 58% of all law firms”.
The survey did find that “most [firms] have achieved a reasonable level of ‘comfort’ on the rising tide of general economic recovery”. But Altman Weil says that this hides many significant systemic problems: “We think this creates a false sense of security and a mis-direction of focus in many law firms.”
In the UK, there are also reasons to be concerned.
If we look at the top tier of law firms, over the course of 2017 many of the big players’ financial results showed revenue growth (Allen & Overy at 16%, Clifford Chance at 11%, for example). However, as PwC revealed at the end of last year in its annual law firm survey, there’s an uncomfortable truth about those figures. That is that foreign exchange movements — NOT improved productivity — contributed to around a staggering two thirds of overall fee income growth among the UK top ten law firms.
PwC says the real picture is “one where profitability is under threat, competition is ramping up, and the impact of digitisation is potentially overwhelming”.
If we look at the top 200 law firms in the UK, they have seen massive revenue growth since the recession (73% between 2007 and 2017). But there are two significant factors to bear in mind here.
First, the number of lawyers has also increased astronomically: 44,133 to 63,548, the number of partners from 6,000 to 19,736. There is a big question mark over whether those numbers are sustainable. Second, among all this growth there has also been consolidation (and among big names too): for example, the triple merger between CMS Cameron McKenna, Nabarro and Olswang to form CMS. This may demonstrate fault lines in the market.
Altman Weil’s survey acutely observes that “without a crisis, it’s hard to create a sense of urgency”. It seems law firms on both sides of the Atlantic are not in crisis, so lack that energy to change. But the survey also suggests that firms should not wait for the next crisis to deal with some of the hidden problems that they have. Junior lawyers might be pleased to hear the survey say: “Partners need to care about the firm, or, at the very least, get out of the way.” Ouch.
Top lawyers share their secrets to success; students ask the questions
Legal Cheek is back with the latest in its series of student events — in association with The University of Law (ULaw) — to help future lawyers boost their commercial awareness as they apply for training contracts.
The first session of the summer takes place next week, on the evening of Wednesday 30 May at ULaw Moorgate, and features a panel of leading lawyers from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, CMS, Gowling WLG, Pinsent Masons and ULaw. The quintet will share the secrets to their own success, while also advising students on how they can best position themselves to obtain training contracts with leading firms. They will look, too, to the future and give their views on what changes we can expect in the legal market.
After the Question Time-style discussion, there will be drinks and networking with the speakers and a collection of the firms’ trainees and members of their graduate recruitment teams.
Apply to attend here. You’ll be asked to submit a CV and two questions for the panel.
Nearly half of rookies think they’re paid too little
New research has shown that average trainee salaries are £560 less since rookie minimum pay requirements were ditched by the regulator in 2014.
A report published yesterday by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) says a drop in the salaries of the lowest earning trainees is pulling down the average. In 2016, the lowest paid 2% of trainee solicitors received up to £13,104. This stood at £17,268 the year prior to the minimum pay requirement’s removal. So, it appears it’s those finding their feet in the poorer paid areas of the profession such as criminal legal aid that are feeling the post-scrappage pinch. By contrast, trainee pay in City law firms is steadily increasing.
The prescribed minimum wage for trainee solicitors used to be £18,590 in London and £16,650 elsewhere. The median salary among all trainees is currently £25,677, slightly lower than it was when there was a minimum.
Elsewhere, 47% of rookies in 2016 said their pay packet was too small: down nine percentage points on the 2016 result of 55%. Some trainees, the report said, “commented that they were on a low wage despite working very long hours in demanding training contract roles”. Fifty-two percent think their salary is “about right”, while 2% say they’re too generously remunerated.
In response to the SRA’s minimum pay removal, the Law Society issued its own salary guidance — which unfortunately law firms can choose to ignore. Chancery Lane big wigs recommended, as a matter of good practice, that outfits pay trainees at least £21,561 in London and £19,122 everywhere else.
So it was red faces all round when it emerged last year that the Society’s own president, Joe Egan, was paying trainees below the recommended solicitor minimum wage. At the time Egan, who runs Bolton outfit Joe Egan Solicitors, cited government cuts to legal aid in his explanation.
Global outfit’s current bunch share highlights, as applications open for 12 new ambassadors
Left to right: BCLP’s ambassadors, Toyin Ihinmikalu (Oxford University), Panos Apostolidis (Manchester) and Konstantina Santos (York)
University students from across the country have shared the best thing about being a brand ambassador for Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner.
Emily, BCLP’s Bristol ambassador, says her favourite bit has been meeting loads of different law students that she wouldn’t have spoken to otherwise, while Konstantina, from York, is grateful the brand ambassador role has enabled her to experience the firm from within. You can hear from BCLP’s other ambassadors, straight from their respective campuses, in the video below.
Newly-merged firm BCLP is currently recruiting 12 “confident and proactive” brand ambassadors at the following universities: Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, Exeter, King’s College London, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford, Queen Mary University of London, UCL, Warwick and York. The international outfit is accepting applications — which take the form of a CV and cover letter — from first, second and third years and from law and non-law students alike.
Technology, innovation, barrister training and apprenticeships thrust into spotlight
Julie Brannan speaking at The Future of Legal Education and Training Conference
A star-studded line-up of speakers gathered this week for fierce debate and discussion on the forthcoming changes to legal education and training currently sending shockwaves through law firms, chambers, law schools and more.
Perhaps the most anticipated part of Legal Cheek‘s inaugural The Future of Legal Education and Training Conference was that on the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE). The exam represents a fundamental shift in how solicitors train and qualify: Julie Brannan, the director of education and training at the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and the architect of this solicitor super-exam, took the stage to make its case before hundreds of delegates.
She told a packed-out Hall Two of Kings Place, London, that the SQE will shrink the financial risk that burdens self-funding aspiring solicitors and that handing the centralised exam tender to a single provider will improve transparency, too.
Brannan’s TED Talk-style presentation provided a whistle-stop tour of the rationale underpinning the SQE, but she was less forthcoming about operational details (which is what we imagine the roomful of legal education providers and law firm graduate recruiters were keen to hear). It still hasn’t been announced how much it’ll cost, nor which provider has won the exam tender — she even cast doubt on the anticipated 2020 start date.
The SQE panel at The Future of Legal Education and Training Conference
More out-there presentations on the SQE came from the likes of Thom Brooks, the dean of Durham Law School, who compared the exam to Brexit: something nobody asked for and on which details are thin.
While Brooks was far from alone is criticising the proposed super-exam, other speakers were more optimistic. Professor Richard Moorhead, the chair of law and professional ethics at UCL, said the SQE gives law schools an opportunity to re-evaluate their approach to clinical legal education (i.e. take it more seriously). Maeve Lavelle, the director of education and community programmes at Neota Logic, flung off her high heels during her ten-minute presentation, during which she said the legal profession is often resistant to change but that the SQE is necessary to improve access to the profession.
While legal education experts from the likes of Hogan Lovells, King’s College London and the University of Birmingham continued to thrash out the SQE’s impact, across the foyer barristers gathered to discuss impending changes to legal education and training in their field.
The big takeaway there was that barrister training is in need of a shake-up. There’s clearly something fundamentally wrong with a course, the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC), that currently one quarter of students fail and that is prohibitively expensive for aspiring barristers to enrol and complete.
To ease this social mobility problem, the Bar Standards Board (BSB), represented at the day-long conference by director general Dr Vanessa Davies, is pushing ahead with SQE-style changes to barrister training. Expect an important announcement from the BSB about this in the coming weeks.
Dr Vanessa Davies, Director General of Bar Standards Board . Speaking about reforms to Bar Training . Four pillars of training for the Bar,flexibility,affordability , accessibility and sustaining high standards @UCLanLaw@legalcheek#legalcheekpic.twitter.com/jyLsakDfpx
Before the afternoon talks on the SQE and barrister training, the 200 or so delegates enjoyed morning sessions on innovation and the skills the next generation of lawyers need.
In the first, we heard from Shruti Ajitsaria, head of Fuse at Allen & Overy.
Her enlightening presentation balanced optimism about the future impact of technology and innovation alongside an admission that, despite the buzz, the effect on legal services has so far been minimal. David Halliwell, the director of knowledge and innovation delivery at Pinsent Masons, discussed some of the changes that have so far taken place, for example that technology has opened up new legal roles such as legal engineers and legal technologists.
Shruti Ajitsaria, of Allen & Overy, delivers her talk
As for the impact of innovation on the graduate recruitment market, Isabel Parker, chief legal innovation officer at Freshfields, thinks firms are now seeking students who are cognitively diverse, hungry and gritty, with a start-up mentality. However, the final speaker in the innovation session, Julia Salasky, CEO and founder of CrowdJustice, wasn’t convinced by law firms’ credentials as a forum for nurturing entrepreneurial trainees and young lawyers. Salasky had herself grown frustrated in her former career as a magic circle lawyer because of the lack of creativity she felt she was able to bring to the table.
This innovation session flowed nicely into an hour-long interactive discussion on the skills students need to make it as lawyers. This included a presentation of research from BPP by the law school’s director of strategic design and development, Jo-Anne Pugh, which namechecked skills such as commerciality, written communication and resilience as key.
Jo-Anne Pugh speaking at The Future of Legal Education and Training Conference
The final session of the day was a fireside chat on education and training in other professions, featuring: Euan Blair, the founder and CEO of WhiteHat, Sam Harper, the former General Counsel of Deliveroo, Samuel Gordon, a research analyst at the Institute of Student Employers, Keily Blair, director of regulatory and commercial disputes at PwC, and Iain Gallagher, the senior manager of emerging talent at Santander.
What shone through is other professions’ enthusiasm for apprenticeships.
Former Deliveroo General Counsel Sam Harper answers an audience question
Harper for one explained that there’s a culture at Deliveroo of learning on the job and figuring things out for yourself, while Gallagher said the top bank currently has 200 apprenticeships and will have 500 by the end of the year.
Legal Cheek would like to thank all the speakers and delegates that joined us at Wednesday’s The Future of Legal Education and Training Conference — we look forward to seeing you all again next year.
Magic circle giant accused of overlooking fraud allegation
Clifford Chance could face an investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) after a Welsh bricklayer accused the firm of overlooking an allegation of fraud during a review into Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) treatment of small businesses.
The magic circle law firm was drafted in to review RBS’s global restructuring group (GRG) in 2014 following claims the banking giant had mistreated thousands of small businesses. Although critical of the bank, Clifford Chance’s independent report found there was no evidence of serious wrongdoing.
Following the publication of the report, business owner Clive May accused Clifford Chance of failing to act on evidence which he claims shows GRG was abusing a taxpayer-backed loan scheme. May — who owns a small bricklaying company in Wales and was one of 138 people interviewed by Clifford Chance during the review — complained to the SRA in 2015 and 2016, according to reports.
Now, several years on, the SRA has today confirmed that an investigation was “likely” but that it would be making no further comment. Clifford Chance declined to comment.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) undertook its own review into GRG in 2015. While the report strongly criticised RBS for GRG’s treatment of small-business customers, it found no evidence that it forced businesses into default for its own benefit.
A sneak peek at the hints and tips The University of Law’s professor Alexis Mavrikakis will share at this evening’s Secrets to Success event
ULaw’s senior tutor Alexis Mavrikakis
Law students are used to being the centre of attention. Primary schools, secondary schools and universities all have students at their core, the sun around which teachers orbit. Law firms, in stark contrast, are built to serve the needs of their clients — and this can prove a bit of a shock to students when they become trainees.
Students with hands-on experience in a business with client needs at their core have been introduced to this transition early and are, therefore, more attractive to graduate recruiters. Opportunities to do work experience placements and vacation schemes should be grabbed with both hands.
These words of wisdom, courtesy of The University of Law’s senior tutor Alexis Mavrikakis, are the culmination of four years’ experience in legal practice and more than 20 in legal education. Mavrikakis studied law at Cambridge before training and qualifying at magic circle player Clifford Chance, but he left after four years. “Legal practice wasn’t particularly for me”, he said. Practising in the City as a gay man in the 1990s was “not easy” (though thankfully a lot has changed in the interim).
A combination of wanting to work in a more tolerant and open-minded profession and concerns about his work/life balance led Mavrikakis into teaching. He’s spent 13 years at ULaw, where he’s written textbooks on and teaches public companies and business. He is currently the course leader for Linklaters‘ Legal Practice Course (LPC) and the lead tutor for three of the American law firms’ future trainees: Cleary Gottlieb, Shearman & Sterling and Weil Gotshal.
So, Mavrikakis has seen thousands of law students enter top-rate training contracts: how would he advise our readers to do the same? Aside from doing work experience placements where possible, it’s also vital students adopt a pragmatic mindset when seeking training contracts.
“There’s an awful lot of information online about firms. Rather than firing off applications to all of them, clearly assess where it is you want to work,” he says. “For example, if work/life balance is your number one priority, don’t apply for firms that are known for their hard-work culture. If you have an interest in a particular practice area, it’s no good applying for firms that don’t practise this.”
Securing strong academics is an important component of students’ journey into practice too, and there’s plenty students can do to increase their chances here.
It’s imperative, Mavrikakis says, that students enter the exam hall “crystal clear on how and what you’re being examined on, and understanding precisely the structure and timing of the assessment”. He’d also advise against relying too heavily on outside sources — perhaps in a bid to show further reading and resources — at the expense of core materials provided by the university. “You can impress the examiner and score high marks just by having a good grasp of the basic materials provided,” he says.
For students currently enduring exam period hell, Mavrikakis has this nugget of advice:
“It’s important to recognise that there will be tough weeks on the course, but that doesn’t mean you’re in the wrong career or have taken the wrong path. It’s expected you won’t love every bit of your course and that there will be more challenging topics and times. The most important thing to remember is to keep going, because at the end of this tough period awaits a fantastic start to your legal career.”
As global outfit launches inter-office secondment opportunity
Junior lawyers at Reed Smith will now receive regular, anytime, performance feedback thanks to a new app-based process.
The global outfit has introduced the new mobile app that allows for “continuous detailed feedback” from every lawyer with whom an associate works. The tech-based approach involves agreed-upon goals, options to regularly request and/or provide constructive feedback and the ability to routinely schedule check-in meetings.
Performance feedback apps like this are becoming increasingly popular in other sectors (IBM and Amazon both use them) and sometimes even replace the annual appraisal process. However, Reed Smith isn’t ditching traditional annual reviews just yet. It confirmed its new work-related WhatsApp will “supplement” the international firm’s existing feedback model.
Apps aside, Reed Smith’s young lawyers will now have an opportunity to spend time at one of the firm’s 28 offices as part of a new mini-secondment scheme. The firm — which has outposts in exotic locations including Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Miami — said associates can “spend one or two weeks or more” away from home and that it has developed a formal training programme to enhance the whole experience.
Both of these new gizmos form part of the firm’s Associate Life initiative. Casey Ryan, Reed Smith’s global head of legal personnel, said: “The Associate Life initiative engages associates wherever they are and allows them to develop their skills, increase their connections, and strengthen their capabilities as they assume increasingly complex client projects and professional responsibilities.”
The developments come just weeks after Reed Smith’s lawyers were told that time spent being innovative can count towards their billing targets.
The programme, Innovation Hours, allows lawyers to allocate up to 50 billable hours dreaming up new projects or products. Legal Cheek’s Firms Most List shows Reed Smith’s London-based lawyers currently have a target of 1,600 billable hours, roughly in line with other big City players. That means around 3% of lawyers’ time could be spent being innovative.
In the latest instalment in our Career Conundrums series, one aspiring City solicitor has fallen pregnant during her training contract and doesn’t know what to do yet.
“I’m not long into the second half of my training contract at a City firm and have just found out I’m pregnant. By the time I have the baby I’ll be qualified. I don’t know what to do and who to tell. I want to make as good an impression as I can on the firm and my colleagues, but this is my first pregnancy and I don’t want to jeopardise anything by working on stressful deals long into the night. At the same time, I’ve always wanted to become partner at a law firm and don’t want to go in-house, etc, especially so early on in my career. I’d really appreciate some advice on where to progress from here.”
Employment lawyer Kevin Poulter sits down with Legal Cheek to discuss social media, Alan Titchmarsh and his latest podcast project
Employment lawyer Kevin Poulter, pictured for the new Thomson Reuters ‘The Hearing’ podcast series
“I will always encourage law students and junior lawyers to get on social media,” says employment lawyer Kevin Poulter. “It’s where legal news is often broken now. Take judgments for example: you no longer have to wait weeks on end for them to appear online through the official channels. Within a few clicks you can usually find what you’re after on Twitter.”
Poulter, a partner at private client outfit Child & Child, is well positioned to speak on the benefits of being online savvy.
“Several years ago, I was asked by a firm I was working for at the time to set up and run its Twitter account,” he tells Legal Cheek. “I was effectively asked to become the voice of the firm at a time when the legal profession was still very wary of social media. My interest really went from there.”
Fast forward to today and Poulter boasts a substantial online following, has secured a highly-coveted Twitter blue tick, and can often be found on TV in his capacity as a legal commentator and social media expert. Appearances to date include BBC News and ITV’s The Alan Titchmarsh Show, where he was a legal expert.
On juggling his on and off-screen commitments, Poulter says:
“Take The Alan Tichmarsh Show for example. As their resident legal expert, I was lucky enough to have my own dressing room, which I effectively used as an office. I had my laptop, phone and access to good WiFi. The only time where I wasn’t able to work was for the hour or so when I was filming. But at least I got to sit between Joan Collins and Leo Sayer while pouring Nicholas Parsons a cup of tea!”
Poulter is in the process of adding another media string to his bow: this time teaming up with Thomson Reuters to launch a new series of podcasts.
In The Hearing — with Kevin Poulter, the Yorkshire-born lawyer sits down and chews the fat with some of the country’s more interesting legal personalities. Poulter explains:
“Our approach is more conversational. It’s not a straightforward interview with pre-set questions. We try to make the guests feel as relaxed as possible, so we actually go to their chambers, office or their home. Naturally, some of the conversations are more light-hearted than others, it really comes down to the topic being discussed.”
Guests include former City of London Lord Mayor and CMS partner Fiona Woolf, ex-Court of Appeal judge and 4 New Square barrister Sir Rupert Jackson, transgender barrister and Old Square Chambers tenant Robin White, and Joseph Raczynski, a legal technologist and futurist at Thomson Reuters Legal. If that wasn’t enough to whet your appetite, Poulter says several other “special guests” are being lined up as we speak.
The podcasts — which are roughly 30 minutes in length and available on iTunes, SoundCloud and Spotify — are “perfect for lawyers and law students to dip in and out of”, says Poulter, “whether it’s on your commute to the office or during a lunch break”.
Poulter isn’t a novice when it comes to podcasts. With a smile on his face he tells us: “There’s a nice circularity to all this. Many years ago, I used to host a podcast series called Round My Kitchen Table with Legal Cheek publisher Alex Aldridge. We would discuss the week’s big legal events around Alex’s kitchen table, often over a glass of wine.”
So, with all that said, has Poulter ever considered ditching the law to pursue a career in the limelight? Quite the opposite. There have been times he’s had to say no to media appearances, Poulter concedes, because of client commitments. He says:
“It’s always been clear to me that the reason I am invited to these things is because I am first and foremost a lawyer. People do ask, ‘Oh why don’t you do the media stuff full time?’, but that’s not my passion. I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer and it’s important for me to keep that line between doing the job I love and everything else which is supportive of that.”
You can download The Hearing — with Kevin Poulter for free via iTunes, SoundCloud and Spotify
Ahead of ‘Innovation in the law’ in Glasgow this evening, Pinsent Masons’ Jennifer McCormick tells Legal Cheek Careers how technology is revolutionising her practice area of banking and restructuring
Jennifer McCormick
Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the nature of legal practice. When Pinsent Masons senior associate Jennifer McCormick was starting her career as a trainee solicitor in 2007 there were lots of “lawyers in dark rooms” reviewing and comparing documents. That sight became gradually less common, but in McCormick’s area of specialism, banking, restructuring and insolvency, the big change didn’t come until a couple of years ago. Pre-2016 it was still pretty standard to have 100 lawyers doing basic review work on a large matter. When the firm introduced AI-assisted review in the autumn of that year, that number suddenly plunged to 10-20 lawyers.
At the same time, this new technology is creating work. McCormick notes that previously clients would ask for a sample of data to be reviewed on large-scale projects, or often split projects between a number of different firms. Utilising its AI tool, known as TermFrame, Pinsents can now pitch to review all of the data on a matter within compressed timescales.
This shift is also leading to more opportunities for junior lawyers to use their legal analysis skills. “From a young lawyer’s perspective it’s an exciting time. The AI does the heavy lifting on document review, freeing up lawyer time to focus on the ‘issues’ coming out of the review — for example, those non-standard provisions that require greater legal analysis” says McCormick.
So, counter-intuitively perhaps, the rise of AI is increasing the premium on old fashioned legal skills and commercial awareness. McCormick agrees with this thesis, but is keen to emphasise the importance of lawyers in running the technology. “Our lawyers are involved at every stage of the process,” she says.
Certainly no one in Pinsent Masons’ Glasgow office can be accused of operating in a legal bubble. McCormick, who graduated with a law degree from Aberdeen University, says she spends a large portion of her day speaking to the firm’s army of data scientists. Part of that is due to Pinsents’ research and development team being based in Glasgow (alongside, it’s worth noting, several members of the firm’s senior management team). But another part of it is emblematic of a wider shift towards blended teams at which the firm has been at the forefront. Pinsents was one of the first firms to have a director of innovation, and having introduced legal technologist roles before they became mainstream, is unique in actually having built its own AI tool.
This forward-thinking attitude extends to other areas, including distribution of work in a way that is not location dependant and agile working, which is the norm. McCormick, who has spent her entire career to date in Glasgow but increasingly finds herself working on high-level projects for major London-based clients, has certainly benefitted from this approach.
“I’m very fortunate to be at a firm that allows you to do the type of work you want regardless of location. If I felt I wasn’t getting access to the best work and deal exposure I may have moved to a different location but that has not been the case,” she adds.
Looking ahead, McCormick thinks that law’s tech revolution has “a lot more to run”. She expects better management of information across the board to be a key theme, as technology steadily alters the way data is recorded.
“At the moment we are still very much focused on reviewing things that have gone before. Going forward, we should be assisting our clients to understand their data better,” she continues.
As for her advice for the next generation of solicitors who will shape this world, McCormick echoes many who have come before her: “You just don’t know how things will develop, and what you might find you enjoy about the elements of practice that you encounter, so keep an open mind!” Timeless words in a world that keeps changing.
Jennifer McCormick will be speaking at Legal Cheek’s latest student commercial awareness event, ‘Innovation in the law’, in Glasgow this evening.
