Career development: the new game of snakes and ladders?

1. Career development:the new game of snakes and ladders? LETG Annual Conference Professor Stephen Mayson Director, Legal Services Policy Institute

2. Time to revisit some home truths • Career development a good thing: ‘sink or swim’ consigned to history? • Career development is surrounded by some context that affects its dynamics • even those on the ownership track (ladders) subject to some slippery moments (snakes) not of their making or under their control

3. Some home truths • Ownership currently restricted to qualified lawyers … • … but more qualified lawyers than an ‘efficient market’ needs • More ownership expectations than firms have room to accommodate … • … as focus on PEP reduces ownership openings • The Legal Services Act holds prospect of different types of contribution, productivity and ownership

4. An over-supply of lawyers and the shortage of talent • An apparent paradox • No doubt about over-supply in the market • But not enough ‘good lawyers’, or ‘outstanding partnership material’ • Partly an issue of fragmentation (ie the distribution of talent) … • … and partly an issue of career development (ie the meaning of talent)

5. Law firms and their clients • Have different views about fee-earner performance and value • need business understanding and application • qualified lawyers not always required • dissatisfaction with the chargeable hour and time-based billing • need more efficiency and project management • Need to (re)define what we mean by a ‘good lawyer’

6. New colleagues and new investors? • Reality and implications of LSA 2007 • Received wisdom: • clients don’t want MDPs • law firms don’t want or need ‘external’ investment • But clients are more open-minded … • … and banks are lending less, tightening up and questioning more • constrained debt capacity • investment imperatives are changing • internal equity and external debt might not be sufficient

7. Work-life balance • Can we reconcile law satisfaction and economic reality? • issues of burn-out, stress, dependencies, client perception, etc • exacerbated by ‘Gen Y’ expectations? • In boom times, client demand prevails; in slow times, economic reality prevails • Can therefore be reconciled only on the basis of lower average rewards?

8. So, what sort of ‘career development’ does the new world need? • To develop ‘good lawyers’ • To develop the best or the lucky into ‘good owners’ • To develop the not-so-good or the not-so-lucky into continuing, valuable employees (or to create a valuable exit for them) • To develop people (whether lawyers or not, and whether in client-facing or internal roles) who are capable of working with clients and alongside each other in an environment that might or might not represent a partnership structure or culture, and might be owned wholly, partly or not at all by lawyers

9. So, what sort of ‘career development’ does the new world need? • A ‘good lawyer’ • talent and competence in technical law, business understanding, case management, clients and referrer relationships, and delivering client value • A ‘good owner’ • talent and competence in leadership, business management, client and referrer relationship management, and talent development • Not rocket science: but need to make the ladders a reality, rather than succumb to the snakes of lip service or abandoned, half-hearted implementation

10. Legal Services Policy Institute The College of Law Gavrelle House 2 Bunhill Row London EC1Y 8HQ www.college-of-law.co.uk/about-the-college/legal-services-policy-institute.html Stephen.Mayson@lawcol.co.uk