International player Squire Patton Boggs has upped its London and regional newly qualified (NQ) solicitor salaries by 7% and 5% respectively.
Until recently, those qualifying into the firm’s London office, which teeters between the City and Shoreditch in upmarket Devonshire Square, started on a not too shabby salary of £68,000.
Now, the firm has boosted this figure by 7% to reach a cool £73,000. Legal Cheek’s Firms Most List shows Squire’s lot have leapfrogged the likes of CMS (£70,000), K&L Gates (£71,000) and Eversheds Sutherland (£72,000), and earn the same levels of cash as their peers over at Stephenson Harwood (£73,000).
The 47-office-outfit hasn’t neglected its regional NQs either. Those qualifying in Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester will earn £44,000, a 5% rise on the global firm’s previous offering of £42,000.
Squire Patton Boggs confirmed trainee pay remains unchanged. The firm’s London trainees earn £37,000 in year one, rising to £42,000 in year two, while rookies in the regions receive £26,000 in their first year and £28,000 in their second year. The firm offers 25 training contracts annually.
The US-headquartered firm was a strong performer in this year’s Legal Cheek Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey. Scoring an A* for its partner approachability and rated highly for its client secondments, the latter of which it won the award for at our glitzy Awards ceremony last month, it notched up A’s in no less than seven categories: training, quality of work, peer support, tech, office, canteen and social life.
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Allegations, which are unproven, stipulate accused ‘ought to have known’ conduct was inappropriate
Ryan Beckwith
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) have revealed the allegations levelled at a partner in Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s London office for sexual misconduct involving a junior colleague whose decision-making ability was “impaired”.
Following a case management hearing which began last week at the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT), the SRA has published a full list of allegations made against Ryan Beckwith, a restructuring and insolvency specialist, concerning his “inappropriate” conduct during and after a “celebratory event” organised by the magic circle firm for its partners and employees.
The allegations, which are unproven, include that Beckwith attempted to kiss the junior employee, referred to as ‘Person A’, while they were both intoxicated. Beckwith, who made partner in 2012, then “initiated and/or engaged” in sexual activity with the junior employee at her home.
The report states that Beckwith, being in a “position of seniority and/or authority”, ought to have known that ‘Person A’ had given no indication that she wanted to be kissed following her reaction to the kiss, and that Beckwith ought to have known that his sexual conduct “had not been uninvited and was unwelcome”.
The allegations add that Beckwith ought to have known that because ‘Person A’ was heavily intoxicated to the point that she was “vulnerable and/or her decision making was impaired”, ‘Person A’ had not invited him to her home with a view to sexual activity taking place.
With regard to both incidents involving ‘Person A’, who has since left the firm, the SRA alleges that Beckwith ought to have known his actions were an abuse of his position of seniority or authority.
As reported by Legal Cheek, Beckwith’s barrister, Alisdair Williamson QC of Three Raymond Buildings, argued that the charges are beyond the SRA’s remit and that proceedings amounted to an abuse of process.
Edward Braham, senior partner at Freshfields, said:
“A partner of the firm is the subject of Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) proceedings and is on indefinite leave. Given the ongoing proceedings, to which we are not a party, it would be inappropriate to comment further on this case. The firm takes all complaints extremely seriously. When this complaint was reported to us we instructed an external law firm to conduct a thorough investigation and we took actions in the light of the report’s findings.”
Braham added: “We want a culture that is welcoming and allows our people to flourish, and we work hard to achieve that. We are running a firm-wide programme to ensure our values and behaviours are consistently experienced across the firm, and I am confident that we will continue to achieve change where it is needed.”
Beckwith studied law at Anglia Polytechnic University (now Anglia Ruskin University), before going on to study civil law at the University of Oxford. The hearing will continue next month.
Comments on this article are closed for legal reasons.
Magic circle player Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has upped the pay packets of its newly qualified (NQ) solicitors by a whopping £15,000.
Until recently, those qualifying into the firm’s plush London headquarters enjoyed a sizeable £85,000 pay cheque. Now, the Anglo-German giant has bumped this figure by 18% and will be paying its newbie associates £100,000 a year, Legal Cheek can reveal. Freshies confirmed its junior lot will also be eligible for a discretionary bonus on top of their staggering six-figure salaries. The rise is effective from 1 May 2019.
News of today’s BIG money move means Freshfields has leapfrogged its fellow magic circle rivals in the NQ pay league. As it stands, NQs at Clifford Chance earn £91,000 (bonus included), while their counterparts at Allen & Overy, Linklaters and Slaughter and May receive £83,000 respectively. It’s worth noting NQ pay over at Links can reach anywhere up to £90,000 (base salary and performance bonus combined).
Having whizzed past all four of the elite quintet, Freshfields now pays its junior associates the same levels of cash as those at Covington & Burling (£100,000) and sits behind US stalwart Sullivan & Cromwell (£101,500). You can check out what all the top firms pay on Legal Cheek’s Firms Most List.
Commenting on the uplift, a spokesperson for Freshfields, said:
“We have increased associate salaries with effect from 1 May. Our pay offering is a critical part of our talent strategy and reflects our continued commitment to attracting and retaining the very best talent in the legal market. We regularly review our compensation and benefits across the firm with this in mind.”
Freshfields — which offers 80 training contracts each year — confirmed trainee solicitor pay remains unchanged. Trainees earn £45,000 in their first year, rising to £51,000 in their second year.
Aside from the very enviable salaries, what’s it like working at Freshfields? The Fleet Street firm (which is set to relocate to Bishopsgate next year) performed well in the Legal Cheek Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey 2019, scoring an A* for its lavish perks which include no less than an on-site doctor, masseuse and sushi chef, and As for its training, quality of work, peer support and social life. It could only muster Bs for its partner approachability, office and canteen, and Cs for its work/life balance and tech.
The magic circle are facing increased competition from US rivals, which are bulking up their presence in the City of London. It’s a move which has sparked the MoneyLaw trend which has seen junior lawyer pay swell to as much as £145,000 ($190,000). English-qualified rookies at the London offices of US firms including Akin Gump, Debovoise & Plimpton, Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins earn a dollar-pegged salary of £145,000 ‘straight outta’ their training contracts. It remains to be seen whether the rest of the magic circle follow suit…
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Social media sensation turned law student says she won’t have time for ‘literally anything’
Social media superstar, business mogul and now aspiring lawyer, Kim Kardashian, has come to terms with the pressures of being a busy law student.
In the latest episode of reality TV show Keeping Up with the Kardashians which aired on Sunday and features the ins and outs of all-things Kardashian, the KKW Beauty businesswoman and mother-of-three (soon-to-be four) opened up about the balancing act which Legal Cheek reckons most law students will be familiar with. The 38-year-old socialite said:
“I’m dealing with my three kids, I’m dealing with my career, the fourth baby coming and the stress of law school.”
Kardashian confirmed she had begun a four-year legal apprenticeship with a San Francisco law firm last summer, with the aim to sit the California bar exam in 2022 in last month’s issue of fashion bible Vogue. She continued:
“Just because you do an apprenticeship does not mean that it’s anything less — I mean, you have to put in 18 hours a week. It is a full commitment. I won’t have time for events, for favors, for friends, for literally anything, for four years.”
Despite not holding a university degree, Kardashian is able to pursue her legal studies because California is one of a number of US states that allow aspiring lawyers to sit their final bar exams without a law degree.
In order to qualify through the apprenticeship, Kardashian must log 18 hours of studying a week, five of which are monitored by her attorney mentors, Jessica Jackson and Erin Haney, in addition to written and multiple-choice tests that she must take monthly — a tough task for any law student, let alone reality TV royalty.
This isn’t the first time Kardashian has shed light on her law student woes. In a recent Instagram post, Kardashian revealed: “My weekends are spent away from my kids while I read and study. I work all day, put my kids to bed and spend my nights studying. There are times I feel overwhelmed and when I feel like I can’t do it but I get the pep talks I need from the people around me supporting me. I changed my number last year and disconnected from everyone because I have made this strict commitment to follow a dream of mine.”
Kim K luckily has the support of her mentors (the trio were recently snapped studying tort law, surrounded by revision notes in an Insta post (below)). The star has since revealed she “aced” her torts exam, which is one of three she must complete in order to pass her first year.
Also backing Kardashian is her rapper husband, Kanye West. On a previous episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, he said: “Once you manage your time, you’ll be able to manage your time to be able to give attention to me, attention to the kids and attention to law that you’re passionate about.”
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Exclusive: Trainees start on £39k rising to £60k on qualification
London-headquartered media law firm Wiggin has launched a new trainee solicitor scheme.
Applications opened yesterday for the well-known media, technology and IP outfit’s 2019 and 2020/21 training contract programmes. The firm has two training contract places for its September 2019 intake, and a further four TC spots up for grabs for its September 2020/21 intakes.
Media law buffs hoping to join the outfit, which has offices spread across London, Brussels and Cheltenham (rookies will divide their time between London and Cheltenham), can look forward to working with some of the biggest names in the music biz to Silicon Valley start-ups, fashion brands, sports clubs and publishing houses. Gucci, Netflix, Nintendo, Manchester United and Warner Bros are among the firm’s clients.
Legal Cheek can reveal trainees will earn £39,000 in their first year, rising to £42,000 in their second year. Newly qualified (NQ) solicitors can expect to rake in a not too shabby salary of £60,000 on qualification. Wiggin, which is based in London’s Fitzrovia, will also fully fund future trainees’ Legal Practice Course (LPC) and Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) fees. It will also award rookies a £7,000 maintenance grant.
The firm previously offered a trainee solicitor scheme, but wound it down in 2015 as it focused on newly qualified (NQ) solicitor recruitment. Commenting on the relaunch, Ben Whitelock, corporate partner at Wiggin, said:
“We are delighted to reintroduce our trainee scheme and to be taking applications for September 2019, 2020 and 2021. The market, and the firm, has changed significantly since our last intake in 2015, bringing new opportunities for growth at junior level. We are looking forward to meeting lots of great candidates and providing our new trainees with a strong start to their career in law, working in the fascinating sectors and practice areas in which we specialise.”
Wiggin scored A*s for its work, peer support and social life in the Legal Cheek Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey 2019, with As for training, partner approachability, tech savviness and perks, and Bs for its office and work/life balance.
The gig economy is forcing industries to rethink how they deliver its services — and the legal profession is no exception. Leading such change is F-LEX, an online platform connecting law students with law firms and in-house teams for short-term paralegal placements.
How does it work? All a firm needs to do is list their requirements (such as location, availability or additional skills, including languages) and F-LEX then use software to quickly find and match paralegals meeting these criteria. Once booked, paralegals are sent to work, where tasks can range from basic contract review to preparing bundles and attending court.
The idea first came to Mary Bonsor, the co-founder and CEO of F-LEX, while she was practising as a property litigator at Winckworth Sherwood, whose London office happens to look out onto a law school. During the peaks of her workload, Bonsor recalls seeing law students pass her window and thinking: why couldn’t she seek help from these aspiring lawyers who, although eager to hit the ground running, often struggle to find paid legal work experience to fit around their studies? “The core idea was to use tech to make it super-efficient for firms to get in contact with good law students — and vice versa,” explains Bonsor.
At first, this tech was simply Google Sheets, a free online spreadsheet programme. “I put together a spreadsheet of law students and approached a law firm, asking them to let me know if they needed any paralegals. I managed to place five people in that firm for two weeks,” says Bonsor.
With the help of co-founders Jimmy Vestbirk, founder of Legal Geek, and software entrepreneur, James Moore, Bonsor secured funding through angel investor and ex-managing partner of Clifford Chance, Tony Williams. It was at this point Bonsor left legal practice to become a full-time entrepreneur. On making the switch, Bonsor says:
“I absolutely loved being a lawyer and really enjoyed the area in which I practised, but I wouldn’t look back. Setting up your own business is a complete rollercoaster. You really feel the highs when it’s your own thing — and you really feel the lows a lot more too.”
Almost three years on, F-LEX has recruited over 2,500 on-demand paralegals and, after their latest round of fundraising, is set to expand across the UK — adding the South West and Scotland to its list of existing hubs in London, Manchester, Cambridge and Birmingham.
Key to F-LEX’s growth has been maintaining a reputation for trustworthy service, which largely depends on the calibre of paralegals on offer. “The quality of our paralegals is paramount, because if they’re unreliable, no one would use us again,” stresses Bonsor. Before they become paralegals, all law students and graduates are assessed on their academic achievements, relevant experience, preference of practice area and level of skill. Bonsor continues:
“F-LEX is run by experienced lawyers so we understand the level of difficulty of potential work that needs to be done. Drafting up a shareholder agreement may be too hard for some paralegals, but not for others, so it is all about understanding what our candidates feel comfortable doing.”
Having this expertise on hand, the ability to understand the standards law firms and in-house lawyers require, enables pre-vetted paralegals to be matched with clients quickly and easily — something which traditional placement agencies often struggle with.
The desire for greater flexibility in the legal profession is not just limited to paralegals — it can also be seen in changes to how lawyers are trained, Bonsor argues. She points to the Solicitors’ Qualifying Examination (SQE), which is set to replace the Legal Practice Course (LPC) and the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) when it comes into force in September 2021 — something which Bonsor will discuss during the Future of Legal Education and Training Conference 2019 on 22 May. Under the new guidelines, students can complete the two years qualifying work experience with up to four different legal employers; offering greater freedom when choosing the areas they specialise in. Work completed as F-LEX, for example, will count towards their SQE qualification. “It puts the power to law students to build their own training contract,” says Bonsor.
Greater demand for flexibility can also be seen in the mounting support for the gig economy among lawyers. F-LEX, for example, has recently expanded its services to include on-demand junior lawyers. In light of the recent findings by the Junior Lawyers Division, which found that 94% of survey respondents reported feeling stressed in their role and with almost a quarter of those individuals being severely to extremely stressed, the gig economy offers a viable solution. For example, self-employed lawyers can have greater control over the way they work — which may allow for a healthier work/life balance. “Some lawyers may not want to move around and prefer to stay and train in one firm, but a large proportion of lawyers have chosen to stay put when they potentially don’t want to,” she adds.
One factor which may go some way in explaining why lawyers are hesitant to switch to flexible working is the uncertainty around leaving the traditional law firm set-up. This cautious mentality, typical of the legal profession, is something that Bonsor soon unlearned as she settled into her new role as a legal entrepreneur. She explains:
“As a lawyer, you have to be very risk averse and so you end up fearing failure. But in a start-up, failing is something you become used to. As a technologist, you build something and if it doesn’t work then you move onto the next thing.”
For example, F-LEX was initially designed with the independent contractor model in mind, which would see paralegals classed as being self-employed. But the business quickly steered away from this model as law firms wanted to avoid any employment risk. F-LEX paralegals are now classed as employed workers, meaning they are paid a competitive hourly rate (above the living wage), that goes up when working past 6:30pm, and are also entitled to basic employment rights — including retention, holiday and sick pay. Having such precautions in place is vital to prevent exploitation in the gig economy. On this Bonsor explains: “ It is so competitive for law students at the early stages of their career, so it’s important that as employers we take responsibility as much as we can.”
CMS has reportedly sacked a senior partner and referred him to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Joel Barry, the firm’s head of intellectual property, was asked to leave the firm last month, Legal Business reports. The reason for his departure remains unknown.
The link to Barry’s profile on the CMS website now redirects to the profile of Sarah Wright as head of intellectual property. Wright had been in charge of trademarks at the Cannon Street-based outfit.
CMS told Legal Cheek: “We can confirm that a partner has been asked to leave the firm and will not be commenting further”.
World Trademark Review described Barry as an “outstanding all-rounder” and a “leading light when it comes to media issues”. He was admitted as a solicitor in 1996. The reason for his departure is unknown.
CMS, which has nine offices around the country, recently unveiled 21 new UK partners — three quarters of whom were women. It is the product of a 2017 merger between three firms and is officially called CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang.
An SRA spokesperson said: “Now that we are aware, we will look at all relevant information before deciding on any next steps”’
Comments on this article are closed for legal reasons.
LawCare’s announcement comes at the start of Mental Health Awareness Week
Legal mental health charity LawCare is set to pilot a new online messenger service as part of an expansion of its wellbeing support service.
The charity, which operates a free, independent and confidential helpline offering support to legal professionals, said the new webchat service is aimed at junior lawyers and trainees who are more likely to seek help online than pick up the phone. The pilot will go live from July 1.
Elizabeth Rimmer, CEO of LawCare, said: “More and more people in the legal community are reaching out to us for support every year so it is vital we expand our support service”. Rimmer, who will be speaking at the Future of Legal Education and Training Conference next Wednesday, continued:
“Our webchat service will allow anyone working in the legal profession to contact one of our trained team members online for emotional support on any issue that is troubling them.”
News of the pilot comes after LawCare revealed it had received its highest ever number of helpline calls last year — 932 calls from 624 callers in 2018, an increase of 5% on 2017. Worryingly, the charity further reported calls concerning bullying and harassment had nearly doubled over the same period — 68 calls in 2018, an 80% increase (38 calls) on the previous year.
Elsewhere to mark the start of Mental Health Awareness Week, a further nine law firms have signed up to the Mindful Business Charter, an initiative developed by Barclays, together with Addleshaw Goddard and Pinsent Masons, to advance a culture of “openness about mental wellbeing”.
Richard Foley, Pinsent Masons senior partner, said: “Just six months since launch, the Mindful Business Charter has already started to promote a cultural shift in our daily working practices. Small adjustments have the potential to dramatically improve our day-to-day professional life and support mental wellbeing. By working together we can foster positive change.”
Feeling stressed? You can contact LawCare by calling 0800 279 6888 in the UK.
JLD argued rookies risk ‘exploitation’ under work experience element of SQE — but regulator doesn’t agree
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has dismissed calls to reintroduce a mandatory minimum salary for trainee and would-be solicitors, following concerns from some junior lawyers that those seeking to enter the profession were at risk of “exploitation” under the work experience element of the new solicitor super-exam.
In a letter to the Junior Lawyers Division (JLD), the SRA’s director of education and training, Julie Brannan, said that law firm employees are now all protected by national wage requirements and that it would “not be appropriate” for the regulator to impose further salary requirements covering “wider categories of employment”.
“We have deliberately defined Qualifying Work Experience broadly. It can include working in a student law clinic, or on a pro bono basis in a legal advice centre. This type of experience is valuable both to students and to members of the public who benefit from the service. Mandating a minimum salary for Qualifying Work Experience would not result in students being paid for working in a student law clinic. But it would mean that it could not count towards admission as a solicitor, and would remove the incentive which we have introduced.”
Brannan added: “Overall, the removal of the minimum salary should be understood in the broader context of the changes we are making to how we regulate professional legal education and training. SQE will give candidates greater choice about how they learn and train.”
Brexit: ‘Establishment’ in country among practice stipulations set by Dublin bigwigs, report claims
Dublin
Moves by UK lawyers to register in the Republic of Ireland in a bid to ensure they’re able to continue practising in the EU post-Brexit have reportedly been thrown into doubt by the country’s Law Society.
The latest stats show that over 2,700 solicitors from across England and Wales have paid the €300 (£260) administration fee and registered with the Law Society of Ireland in the wake of the Leave vote. This, lawyers hope, will help them circumvent possible practice restrictions they may encounter when (or if) the UK becomes a non-EU country.
But could the re-registration move be futile? According to The Irish Times, the Law Society of Ireland sent a letter to its solicitors in March, just days before the UK was scheduled to leave the EU, revealing a number of stipulations for lawyers seeking to rely on Irish practising certificates post-Brexit. This includes “establishment” in Ireland and indemnity insurance issued within the country, the report claims.
While it remains to be seen how this will impact UK lawyers seeking to secure EU practising rights post-Brexit, the report says some have already lodged High Court proceedings in Ireland against the Dublin-based Society. This, however, is understood to be “more of a precautionary measure”.
The report goes on to speculate that the letter was born out of the Society’s concerns over the extra regulatory responsibilities it will have as a result of the influx of UK lawyers now on its roll. It is understood that the Law Society of Ireland is working on issuing a guidance note to address lawyers’ concerns.
As some City firms take steps to register their lawyers in Ireland, others have gone further and opened offices in the Irish capital. Earlier this week, Clyde & Co opened an office in Dublin amid Brexit concerns, following similar moves by Simmons & Simmons, Fieldfisher, DLA Piper, Pinsent Masons and Lewis Silkin.
The Law Society of Ireland has been approached for comment.
The London office of Gowling WLG welcomed a number of four-legged furry friends through its doors yesterday afternoon in a bid to help de-stress its hardworking lawyers and support staff.
In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Week, the international player teamed up with Doggy De-Stress, a health and wellbeing service which harnesses pooch-power to bring an air of calm to even the most hectic of office environments.
And the idea of using dogs to help lawyers relax is backed by science. Research has shown that petting or playing with animals can reduce stress and anxiety, and increase the stress-busting hormone oxytocin.
Gowling WLG
While it’s not known whether or not the dogs were working on a pro bone-o basis (sorry), snaps of the stress-busting session suggest the initiative went down well with Gowling’s lawyers and staff.
Magic circle embrace of MoneyLaw set to have far-reaching effects
“This is a new salary war,” wrote the first commenter on Legal Cheek’s exclusive story last week revealing that Freshfields had increased its newly qualified solicitor (NQ) salary by a chunky 18% to £100,000.
They are dead right. Freshfields’ move heaps pressure on the other four magic circle firms (Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Linklaters and Slaughter and May) to follow if they are to maintain their elite status among future lawyers. Expect movement and quickly.
Indeed, the quintet — whose collective nickname was coined by The Lawyer magazine in the 90s and has proved remarkably sticky — have done well to resist major NQ pay rises this long. Browse the NQ salary category of the Legal CheekFirms Most List and there are 18 US firms’ London offices which pay in excess of the ‘MoneyLaw’ minimum of £100k. These include not only outfits offering just a handful of UK training contracts, but giants like White & Case that hire 50 trainees annually in London.
The magic circle has been valiantly attempting to avoid fighting such firms on pure cold cash by offering work/life balance perks. Their most profitable member, Slaughter and May (where NQ pay currently stands at £83,000), has been most vocal about this, firing off press releases about sabbaticals and extra holiday being offered to its rookies. In a highly competitive trainee recruitment market, where the best future lawyers typically hold offers from several firms, that strategy is unlikely to be enough now that Freshfields has thrown its lot in with the MoneyLaw movement.
Once the magic circle hit £100k, the corporate finance boutiques like Travers Smith and Macfarlanes, which typically offer the strongest competition for hotshot students, will be forced to raise their NQ rates sharply too. The global megafirms will quickly follow, and then the firms below them, and so on.
What does this all mean for UK corporate law?
Firstly, paying like American firms will mean working more like American firms. US outfits are known for their lower number of junior lawyers per partner and associated reduced overhead costs. This means longer hours. London headquartered firms will have little choice but to move closer to this model if they are to maintain profitability in a market that has been broadly flat since the 2008 financial crisis. While there may only be marginal change now, firms could use the next recession as an opportunity for restructuring.
Secondly, mindful that ultra-hardworking US business culture doesn’t fully translate culturally to the UK, British firms will be looking for ways to drive more efficiencies that temper the worst of the hours excesses. In practical terms that will mean MoneyLaw with added lawtech — an area this country is arguably ahead of the US on. Already we have been seeing the ground work, with all of the major law firms pouring investment into technology over recent years that is now starting to yield results.
The other limb of the efficiency drive will be more north-shoring. Soaring London house prices and commercial rents mean that it is much cheaper to employ people outside the capital. This leaves the money to pay more to those who remain. It’s probably no coincidence that the magic circle firm with one of the most well developed regional presences — despite a few hiccups insiders say that Freshfields’ Manchester office has been a big hit — has moved first to match the Americans on London NQ pay.
The final takeaway from the junior lawyer pay rises is that corporate law, like wider society, is seeing a growing gap financially between those at the top and everyone else. Associates in magic circle firms’ London offices will earn more but there may well be fewer of them in the future. Meanwhile, with firms pressing hard for savings in other areas, it’s hard to see pay for some of the new paralegal/legal technician roles enjoying the same levels of inflation. Unless some dramatic external event — such as a botched hard Brexit or the election of a Corbyn government — comes along to change this, the course seems fixed.
Students getting excited about MoneyLaw salaries should keep this in mind when making career decisions. Do they have the brains and the commitment to secure one of the ever more coveted trainee places in a top law firm? Do they bring something else desirable to the table, like a first degree in a STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subject, or fluency in a useful language? Do they have the sort of passion for business and finance that corporate law firms increasingly demand?
Or are they, if they’re being really honest with themselves, just in it for the money and the status? Because if it’s the latter, there’s a growing risk that they end up with neither as a member of the expanding paralegal branch of the profession.
Largest ever study finds one in three females sexually harassed in workplace
A global survey of nearly 7,000 respondents in the legal profession has uncovered a shocking degree of bullying and sexual harassment affecting men and women.
One in two female respondents and one in three male respondents reported bullying, whilst one in three females and one in fourteen males reported sexual harassment in a work context. Cases are predominantly from law firms though also in-house, in barristers’ chambers, judiciary and government.
Alongside the stats, the report reveals testimonies from individual people. One female in an unnamed law firm in the UK said:
“I was advised by the (female) practice manager that if I showed a sexual interest in my principal, he would be nicer to me. This was after he had thrown a phone at my head.”
Another male respondent from a barristers’ chambers in the UK told researchers:
“I often received comments from my supervisor that she wanted to ‘f*ck me’. Any conversation would seem to have a sexual reference in it.”
The report, by the International Bar Association (IBA), an organisation of lawyers, bar associations and law societies across the globe, in conjunction with market research company, Acritas, notes that, despite #MeToo, a “considerable proportion” of those cases appear to have happened in the last 12 months.
With respondents from 135 countries, 715 legal professionals responded to the survey in the UK. Here, there are slightly higher levels of reports of bullying than the international average: 62% of females and 41% of males compared to global figures of 55% and 30% respectively. Sexual harassment cases impacted 38% of female respondents and 6% of male ones.
It is worth noting, however, that the survey does highlight what is known as the ‘perception paradox’: that in countries where sexual harassment and bullying are topical issues, there is greater reporting giving a perception that a problem is disproportionately more prevalent in one country over another. (The IBA hypothesises that in the future there may be an increase in reporting in the short term that could “indicate increased subjective understanding among targets and a greater willingness to report rather than an objective increase in the frequency of such misconduct.”)
The report observes that these problems globally may be structural: “It is not surprising that bullying and sexual harassment are widespread in the profession.” Citing academic research, the report says:
“Researchers have identified characteristics that increase the likelihood of negative workplace behaviours — these include “where leadership is male-dominated… where the power structure is hierarchical, where lower-level employees are largely dependent on superiors for advancement, and where power is highly concentrated in a single person.”
The IBA has recommended a range of actions to tackle the problem including awareness, training, and greater transparency.
Introducing the report, its president, Horacio Bernardes Neto, said: “If the law is to remain in proper standing with the global community, its practitioners must be of good character.” He added: “I implore the legal profession to head the recommendations.”
Richard Susskind and Julie Brannan lead high profile speaker roster for next Wednesday’s event at Kings Place London
Kings Place London
Leading figures from the world of legal education and training will descend on King’s Cross next Wednesday (22 May) for the country’s largest gathering of its type.
Delegates at Legal Cheek’s Future of Legal Education and Training Conference 2019 include learning & development and graduate recruitment teams from 70 top law firms and chambers, over 50 different universities and all the main legal profession regulators. Also in attendance will be journalists from Legal Cheek, The Telegraph and The Times, alongside representatives from legal tech companies, consultancies and charities. Find out more about the delegates.
They will hear from speakers including Professor Richard Susskind OBE, the preeminent voice on how tech is revolutionising law and legal education, and Julie Brannan, the driving force behind the new Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE), at the day-long event.
The Conference, now in its second year and jointly lead sponsored by BPP University Law School and The University of Law, takes place across three interlinked spaces at Kings Place London — the canal-side venue in King’s Cross that houses The Guardian and neighbours Google’s London headquarters.
The Conference takes place across three interlinked spaces at Kings Place: Hall One, open mezzanine Gallery Level and the St Pancras Room
Chairing the mental health and wellbeing panel session at this year’s Future of Legal Education and Training Conference will be @LawCareLtd’s Elizabeth Rimmer pic.twitter.com/67Cd8feSPI
Anyone who is ‘a bit different’ can become a target
A junior lawyer who was relentlessly bullied by her boss has revealed how she once considered deliberately crashing her car so she didn’t have to go into the office.
The young solicitor, using the pseudonym ‘Isabelle Fearne’, recalls how she once missed a colleague’s leaving party after her boss purposely gave her a “time-consuming” piece of research late on a Friday afternoon, the Guardian reports. Whilst this doesn’t seem an unusual request for a rookie to receive, Fearne claims that when she later told him the answer, her boss already knew it. “It was a complete waste of my time,” she says.
This, unfortunately, was just one of a number of examples of bullying that Fearne encountered during her time at the unnamed firm. In a further incident, she claims her boss told her to be in the office an hour before everyone else, but then didn’t turn up to let her in.
Describing the move as a “massive power play”, she reveals how things went from bad to worse, at one point even considering crashing her own car to avoid the bullying. The report continues:
“When he [eventually] got there he pulled me into a room, shut the blinds and barracked me [for using the internet too much]. It was absolute nonsense.”
Around that time Fearne considered crashing her car, “just to take a week off”.
Reflecting on her experience, Fearne, who has since moved firms, says that anyone who is “a bit different” can become a target for workplace bullying, including those who are older, overweight, quiet or don’t “ski”.
The shocking account comes just 24 hours after a global survey of nearly 7,000 legal professionals uncovered a shocking degree of bullying and sexual harassment affecting men and women. One in two female respondents and one in three male respondents reported bullying, whilst one in three females and one in fourteen males reported sexual harassment in a work context.
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Legal Cheek Careers chats to Clifford Chance partner and co-head of the technology practice, Jonathan Kewley, about the firm’s new lawtech training contract
Jonathan Kewley
“This is pretty cutting edge in the market,” says Jonathan Kewley, Clifford Chance partner, co-head of the firm’s Tech Group and founder of IGNITE, the first law firm training contract to specialise in law and technology. “A lot of other firms collaborate with universities, but we are the only ones doing a project like this, and the opportunities here are staggering.”
IGNITE trainees will devote time to the rapidly developing area of law tech. Like other trainees, the cohort will rotate through four seats and qualify as solicitors but they will focus on the technical side at each stage. The trainees will also be given opportunities to suggest and develop their own technology ideas, for example, an app or other piece of software, with the help of the global firm’s considerable tech expertise.
Clifford Chance already develops and sells software solutions to clients. Examples include technology to do with smart contracts, cyber risk and Senior Managers Regime (SMR) tools. “I think this area will double in size,” says Kewley. “Clifford Chance can be the law tech house of choice as well as the legal adviser of choice.” To this end, the firm has already set up technology innovation labs, Create, in Singapore, and Applied Solutions, in New York, and now it has IGNITE.
“I thought, wouldn’t it be great if the youngest and most imaginative people among us, who are often our trainees, worked with people across the business to ask questions about how we can use technology to work better,” says Kewley. “Tech doesn’t respect boundaries — it is universal and affects how we run all of our practice areas, litigation, tax and complex M&A, while fintech is a huge growth area.”
Not surprisingly, the firm was “inundated” with applications for the innovative programme. “We were oversubscribed for IGNITE,” says Kewley, “and the standard was incredibly high. These are people who would otherwise have gone to work at tech companies or set up their own business. I am really excited about this. We have a good gender balance of men and women in the first cohort and they are extremely diverse in terms of background — some have set up their own business, some have amazing marketing skills and some are graduates in arts subjects but really interested in tech. We’re not after just one type of person. They all have diverse skill sets.. A couple of them were in different, non-legal careers before, for example, one of them worked in the music business, but primarily they want to be lawyers.”
So, how techy will the training contracts get? “Very techy,” he says. “They will be learning about technology development with our internal tech teams as well as developing new business models of their own. They will have the opportunity to create and build software that could generate income for the business. We want their ideas. They should be asking, ‘how can technology help this practice? What can I build?’ All the IGNITE trainees are entrepreneurial people.”
Jonathan says the trainees “will be asked to think about how legal tech will change how we deliver our advice and how we pitch to clients and market ourselves. Tech solutions will create exciting new business models for us, and we will be selling more technology to clients.”
One of the IGNITE trainees, who previously created his own app , has already started work at the firm, and is helping to trial the training contract. For example, the firm has to work out how to appraise and monitor trainees on their tech innovation — if they have had a good idea and pushed it forward to get sign-off for launch, how effective has it been and have they met their milestones?
Ethics in tech will be another key component of IGNITE, Kewley says. “How do you ensure unconscious bias is not incorporated into technology? That it is not pivoted to a particular group of people? The ethics of how you develop tech, how you monitor it and how you make it ethical is a big issue. We want all our trainees to be good both in terms of ethics and technology.”
Kewley, who studied English at Oxford University, has always been interested in tech issues. “I qualified in 2007, when Google and other big tech companies were being established and becoming dominant. I lived through that period, and became interested in the impact data has on society, and its political and commercial perspectives. It has undermined business models and given the firepower to create the biggest companies in the world. I am interested in tech and in ethics around the use of AI [artificial intelligence] and other technologies: a hack can have a severe impact on a company; AI is embedded into a lot of processes in our lives, for example, HR, cloud computing and cyber security.”
He qualified at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and joined Clifford Chance in 2014. Jonathan’s flare for tech led him to build Cyber Assist, an app to help people if a cyber attack shuts all their system down. It is locally available on a smartphone and guides people on the vital protocols they must follow in the immediate aftermath of an attack as well as providing other functions, for example, private chatrooms. “If a client is cyber attacked, it is one of the biggest crises they will ever go through,” he says. “I knew the legal framework, and we have tech people here. I built the specification and the tech teams took that and built the app.”
It’s this type of innovation that may inspire the new IGNITE trainees. Whatever they come up with will be interesting to see. Ultimately, Jonathan says, “we want a diverse mix of people with varied work experience, skills and strengths.”
Jonathan Kewley will be speaking during the headline morning session on cross-disciplinary skills and the coming together, in particular, of law and computer science during the Future of Legal Education and Training Conference on Wednesday 22 May at Kings Place London. General release tickets are available to purchase.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) could find itself on the wrong side of the law if it fails to offer the solicitors’ super-exam in Welsh, a Cardiff-based legal academic has claimed.
Students completing the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) and Legal Practice Course (LPC) in Wales are entitled to sit their exams in Welsh, with their respective law schools picking up the tab for the translation.
However, with the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) set to replace both courses in September 2021, the question remains as to whether Welsh wannabe lawyers will retain the option to take their assessments in their native language.
“Various regulators and teaching institutions are placed under the same burden as universities by Schedules in the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011”, David Dixon, a senior law lecturer at Cardiff University, said. “So the idea that the SRA and its SQE Assessment Organisation [Kaplan] might also be included in these Schedules is not at all strange”.
Continuing, the legal academic said that assuming both the regulator and Kaplan, the education giant tasked with designing and delivering the SQE, are “scheduled” under Welsh Language Measure, it would be “unlawful if the SQE was provided only in English if the SQE was assessed within Wales.”
A spokesperson for the SRA said: “We’re considering the options, but no decision has been made”.
A financial penalty of up to £5,000 may be imposed if an organisation breaches the measure.
Farewell emails are usually quite formal affairs. ‘Thank you for the support’, ‘I wish you all well’, ‘It has been a pleasure’ and so on and so forth. However, one law firm partner over in the US has used his goodbye message as an opportunity to get his Game of Thrones geek on — and it’s pretty epic.
The email, published by US website Above the Law, focuses around the partner, who hasn’t been named, pretending to be a member of the Night’s Watch, a band of soldiers who hold and guard the Wall in the popular fantasy show to keep the Wildlings and White Walkers from entering into the Seven Kingdoms. Read it in full below:
The email comes just weeks after another law firm partner in the US, David Cohen, a regulatory and litigation partner at US law firm Wilmer Cutler, appeared on the show as an extra. Cohen was lucky enough to scoop the bit part because his brother-in-law, David Benioff, is one of the show’s co-creators.
A perk of working for CIA is world travel. Apparently that sometimes extends to other realms…
Closer to home, Legal Cheek reported last month that Durham Law School and Abertay University in Dundee had joined forces to host a conference examining how the hit show portrays law, power and justice. The day-long session, which takes place next month, will explore its depiction of “contemporary issues relating to power, gender, war, capitalism, torture and language”.
US outfit Cleary Gottlieb has made all its paralegals in London redundant, with the firm citing a drop in demand for their services as the reason for the decision.
Until recently, Cleary’s UK recruitment website welcomed applications from prospective paralegals who were “detail-oriented, have excellent organizational ability and strong written and oral communication skills”. Now, law grads looking to gain some valuable legal experience at the US outfit are met with the message:
“Cleary Gottlieb’s London office no longer has an active Paralegal recruitment program.”
The firm’s handling of the job cuts hasn’t gone down well with some, with one insider telling RollOnFriday that trainees were “expected to pick up their work after an hour of handover”.
A spokesperson for Cleary said:
“We confirm that we have made three paralegals redundant in our London office. This was regrettable but followed a 9 month review of work patterns that indicated that there was no longer the same level of demand for their services as had historically existed.”
“Those services are now being provided by a combination of our junior administrative staff [and] where it helps to provide additional training in areas such as court work, trainee solicitors”, the spokesperson added.
Traditionally, US law firms have much flatter, leaner hierarchical structures compared to their UK counterparts. This means that while junior lawyers at US firms tend to receive less in the way of paralegal/administrative support (and as a result spend some of the longest hours in the office), they are among the most well-remunerated in the City. A newly qualified (NQ) lawyer at Cleary, for example, receives a hefty salary of £120,000 — a full £20,000 over and above its nearest magic circle rival Freshfields.
Ahead of next Tuesday’s event, ‘How to get into law as a career changer’, ULaw’s John Watkins talks transferrable skills and reveals how career changers can show risk-averse employers that they’re a safe option
John Watkins
These days there’s more scope for career changers because we’re living and working longer and better, The University of Law’s (ULaw) director of employability, John Watkins believes — but it can often be lack of confidence that holds career switchers back.
Those thinking of transferring into law from different career paths remain unsure if it’s the “right move and whether it’s been done before”. Adding to these concerns is the very real fierce competition for a finite number of training contracts that pits career changers up against university graduates. It remains the case that while the legal profession as a whole has been receptive to career changers — especially at the bar — Watkins finds that there’s a misconception that career changers are difficult to manage and will be difficult to integrate into the firm. No wonder career changers often lack confidence about making the move.
But Watkins believes this can be overcome, first by recognising what you have to offer: “I often meet career changers at open days that are not aware of their own skills. By spending some time thinking this through they will be better equipped to convince their prospective employer that they are the right candidate for the job.”
To build up your confidence, Watkins recommends first thinking about the competition, and what gives you an advantage over first job-ers. For instance, they are likely to have little, if any, exposure to the workplace. Whereas, for career changers that have worked for a long time, they’ll have a roster of practical and technical skills that are potentially transferrable into a legal setting. Further, they may be more proficient in business and IT tools — such as financial accounts and Excel spreadsheets — that makes them a real asset to legal employers.
Career changers can also benefit by showing an employer that they are receptive to taking orders and that they can work with — and for — younger people. Don’t wait around to be asked. “You need to be proactive and make sure there are no question marks next to your name that will count against you,” Watkins advises.
Ultimately career changers should also be aware that: “No employer can ask directly about age as that would be discriminatory,” Watkins says.
Watkins knows the power of transferrable skills having been a successful career changer himself. After graduating from the University of Exeter with a degree in social policy and administration, his career first began in broadcasting. Having spent a “disproportionate” amount of his studies in Exeter’s University radio station, Watkins swiftly found himself as the BBC’s sports correspondent for Watford Football Club. Although he initially enjoyed being paid to watch and report on football, this novelty soon wore thin: “I fancied it as a future career but it eventually turned into a real chore.”
Instead, Watkins made his first bold career move into accountancy — a “safe option” that appealed to him as, he believed, there would always be a demand for those with financial skills. Still, it wasn’t long before Watkins soon moved away from typical number-crunching tasks and, as director of learning and development for accountancy firm, PKF, moved towards training up new employees — putting to use the communication skills he picked up from broadcasting.
Unfortunately, there was trouble ahead for Watkins’ future-proof career path. In 2012, in the aftermath of the financial crisis that rocked global markets four years earlier, the accountant was made redundant after 15 years in the industry.
Next came Watkins’ second bold move, this time into higher education, to join the University of Surrey’s careers team. Though he describes the switch as more “luck rather than judgement”, he also successfully demonstrated the usefulness of transferrable skills. His experience in accountancy, getting a return on clients’ financial investment, was also applicable to interacting with students who now expected a high return as a result of escalating tuition fees. His time as learning and development manager also put Watkins in good stead to support students’ transition into the workplace.
In summary, what Watkins did and what he suggests all career changers consider is this: “You have to turn the question around. Rather than say, ‘Can I have a job, please?’, you should say instead, ‘If you give me a job, this is what I can bring to the party’.”
Gowling WLG
