Competition tight for talent

The legal profession hasn’t escaped the skills shortage affecting industries across Australia, with many respondents to this year’s Legal Elite reporting there is a shortage of lawyers available to undertake work.

Most business people surveyed said felt legal costs had increased and that work was taking longer to turn over due to the amount of work lawyers were faced with.

Several said they had been contacted by firms seeking the names of talented lawyers working for rival firms who could be head-hunting targets.

While often on the receiving end of jokes about morally bereft behaviour, lawyers are well known for their commitment to working slavish hours at the service of their clients.

This image of a hard work ethic and long hours, though, may be detrimental to the sector in this time of burgeoning client lists during a resources boom and staff shortages in key areas.

One of the problems the legal profession acknowledges it faces is a problem with retention of young lawyers, particularly those with three to five years experience.

The Law Society of WA, in conjunction with Women Lawyers of WA, delivered a joint report on the retention of legal practitioners in 1999. 

The report found that: “Within Western Australia, a larger than expected number of lawyers are leaving the legal profession, particularly early in their careers, and that a disproportionate number of these were young women.”

The report recommended that the legal profession undertake to make individual workplaces more diverse, more inclusive, more supportive and more flexible through a variety of management improvement strategies, particularly in the area of people management.

These recommendations are in stark contrast to the now notorious quote from Sydney-based Allens Arthur Robinson managing partner Tom Poulton earlier this year in finance magazine BRW that his staff had no right to free time.

Mr Poulton reportedly said his lawyers had to always be available.

“ You don’t say ‘sorry, I can’t do it, I’m playing cricket on the weekend’. You don’t have a right to any free time,” he said.

Law Society president Celia Searle told WA Business News she believed the society’s 1999 report was still very relevant and that ongoing efforts were being made to implement its recommendations.

“In terms of how firms run their businesses, it is the structures they have rather than the practice of law that is the problem,” Ms Searle said.

The shortage in lawyers with three to five years’ experience could be partly attributed to the fact that many young lawyers move interstate and overseas at this time.

These early career years are also a time when those who are going to become disaffected with the profession will leave, Ms Searle said.

Natalie Wigg, Philips Fox associate and deputy convenor of the Young Lawyers Committee, said she did not believe Mr Poulton’s comments were necessarily reflective of the nature of legal practice.

“We are a service-oriented profession and need to do the best we can within our capacity, and while there may be instances where we have to work particularly hard, the expectation of having to stay in the office all night, every night, isn’t there,” Ms Wigg said.

“Law firms do grapple with how to retain lawyers and are looking for strategies to try and retain them, and are becoming very professional in terms of management, performance reviews and structures for advancement.”

On the flip side to the shortage of lawyers, in the latest Law Society members magazine, Brief, Ms Searle expressed her concern about the number of law graduates coming from universities in Western Australia.

“Like many in the profession I am concerned that the intake of law students is continuing without adequate planning around the career prospects for graduates,” Ms Searle said.

All existing Law Schools increased their intake in 2005, and in addition, Edith Cowan University received approval from the Legal Practice Board before Christmas for its 2005 law course and has enrolled 100 students.

“It is not difficult to predict there will be an even more acute oversupply of law graduates by the end of this decade,” Ms Searle said.

She said the shortage of practicing lawyers should be alleviated by improving retention rates rather than by pushing more graduates through.

With next week being Law Week, the legal profession will attempt to demonstrate to the community values of service and volunteerism through a series of activities. 

Ms Searle said it was an important week for people to see what lawyers are, what they do and the way they contribute to the community at a broader level.