Practice management | All roads lead to law

News that the number of training contracts available has dropped to rates not seen since 1998, a drop of more than 10 per cent on the previous year, and that there are fewer solicitors now qualifying since the end of WWII, has forced those seeking a career in law to focus on exactly what it is that they are seeking '¨to achieve, and how realistic that goal '¨might be.

When talking to students, the cost of qualification and the return on their investment is at the forefront of their minds. These recent statistics only serve to sharpen the focus of their thoughts still further. At the same time client pressure is continuing to force firms to look ever more closely at how they deliver their services competitively and profitably. At the heart of this equation is ensuring that the right level of fee earner is dealing with the appropriate level of work, while also delivering a high quality service. Ironically the solution to the equation, that of maintaining quality while controlling costs, is likely to present far more opportunities for those seeking a career in law with firms recognising that they need to provide both opportunities and progression to attract and retain the talent they want.

Prior to the last recession, in the time of economic boom, those looking for training contracts and newly-qualified (NQ) roles were in a privileged position. The thought that there may not be a role available for them after qualification never entered their minds; the only uncertainty was whether their first choice of department could offer a seat. If not, then a quick dip into the market was more than likely to result in them finding a role in that discipline in a comparable firm.

The financial crash brought about a hard lesson in reality as large numbers of newly-qualified solicitors were let go into a market with no opportunities. I recall talking to an aspiring real estate lawyer in 2008 and having to explain that there were no NQ real estate roles available anywhere in country. What those seeking a career in law failed to appreciate was that prior to the boom, there had always been healthy competition for places. The market has now returned to that reality and with that there is also a greater degree of pragmatism. Students recognise that in a highly competitive market they must consider all of the career paths available to them, weighing up the merits of incurring the costs of both university tuition fees and the LPC against that backcloth. What hasn't changed is their desire for a career in law. If potential employers can provide career opportunities rather than just jobs, there is a rich pool of talent waiting to take advantage of them.

This new market has also levelled the playing field. There will always be a route into qualification for the red-brick, 2:1/AAB A-levels candidate. Firms will always need such recruits for certain areas of their practice. However, the broader demands of the current market have the potential to offer far more opportunities to the large cohort which does not match this artificial distinction of ability. Business needs demand that firms expand their horizons beyond the traditional qualified solicitor model.

The costs pressures building in the insurance litigation market, for example, and the impact of Jackson reforms and the RTA claims portal, have brought these issues sharply into focus for specialist firms. It is no surprise that firms in this sphere appear to be driving the search for alternative career paths, starting with apprenticeships and moving on to vocational qualifications. It is also no surprise that the various providers of legal qualifications are heavily promoting their abilities to support such schemes as downward pressure on the numbers applying for the LPC continues.

The irony is that CILEx has been offering comparable career paths for years. A huge frustration for those involved in recruiting is that CILEx is not widely promoted by law faculties alongside other routes to qualification, if at all. The issue is to promote all of these career paths as comparable qualifications and of equal value to qualifying as a solicitor, and not as another means of qualifying as a solicitor. They have to be relevant and also reflect the world into which students are now qualifying.

There is a trend away from school/university/law school/training contract as a seamless path into work. Financial pressures mean more students are working between these stages, or are seeking to get experience of working in a legal environment before they make a commitment to a career in law, often because of the expense involved. Their education is therefore increasingly modular and, in response to this, the career paths that law firms offer ideally need to be modular too.

At Parabis, for example, we have piloted apprenticeships with some success, engaging with local schools to educate both students and parents to ensure that everyone has realistic expectations and to reassure potential applicants that such a scheme is a genuine alternative to a university education.

We have also evolved and piloted graduate pathways, career paths which run alongside a training contract, with external qualifications. They have equal value to a training contract, and are designed to train employees into the team leaders and technical specialists of the future, as a direct response to the needs of the business. These schemes are modular, apprenticeships can lead into a graduate pathway but there is no obligation to do this. Graduate pathways again are not seen as a longer route to achieving a training contract. Most importantly, graduates and students are enthusiastic about such schemes. They have bought into the potential of being able to develop these paths into a career in law at their own pace, as the opportunities to achieve a training contract decrease year-on-year while their costs increase.

The momentum towards such paths is building, with the announcement last week that nine firms based in the north-west - Pannone, Slater Heelis, Chafes, Colemans ctts, Hill Dickinson, Horwich Farrelly, Stephensons, SAS Daniels and Weightmans have formed the Legal Sector Employer Skills Group to take on 100 paralegals and pilot a paralegal apprenticeship. The Law Society is also working on a scheme to accredit and 'professionalise' paralegals, following the lead taken by the Scottish Law Society last year. The formation of Alternative Business Structures (ABS) has brought new players into the legal market. In assessing the best business models for the services they choose to offer these new ABSs are reaching the same conclusion - they need to explore alternative career pathways with external qualifications that offer genuine progression into a career in law to equip their teams appropriately. For example, the Co-operative Legal Services is to set up a 'learning academy' later this year to give legal training to aspiring lawyers who cannot afford university. These models and career paths do not suit every legal business. They do, however, sit very well with those providers in the insurance litigation sector where costs pressure is keen and where the ABS momentum is greatest. As more entities join the legal market through the ABS model and start to provide services in other areas of law, these opportunities will only increase.

There is a certain irony in the fact that it has taken a deep recession to open both the minds of law firm employers and the aspirations of those seeking a career in the legal profession. In its turn, this will lead to far greater access to accredited career paths in future.