Third of lawyers say no to partnership in favour of work-life balance

Work-life balance and stress are the primary reasons lawyers are not aspiring to partnership, new research has found.

The 2015 Salary and Benefits Benchmarker report by legal recruiters Douglas Scott found that, while 79 per cent of male lawyers and 64 per cent of female lawyers wanted to make partner, nearly a third of all legal professionals had no partnership or business leadership aspirations.

Some 46 per cent of those without such ambitions cited flexibility and work-life balance considerations, while 37 per cent said they did not want to experience the stress associated with the higher echelons of power within law firms.

Surprisingly, only 5 per cent of nearly 2,000 respondents cited barriers to entry or the perception of a glass ceiling as their main reason, with little variation across the genders.

The Law Society's latest annual statistics report found that the number of women partners was down from 8,115 in 2013 to 7,985 in 2014. The report said that the difference between proportions of men and women represented at partner level in private practice 'remains substantial' at 24 per cent.

Moreover, BAME solicitors continued to be under-represented. Ethnicity of partners in private practice firms showed 23,928 white Europeans, compared to 2,420 BAME solicitors.

Meanwhile, the research from Douglas Scott found that a fifth of all lawyers looking for partnership or leadership opportunity felt they would achieve that with their current employer. This seems to reinforce previous findings from the recruiter that lawyers are more faithful to their roles compared to 2014.

Douglas Scott's managing director, Kathryn Riley, remarked: 'It seems lawyers believe that partnership is a realistic proposition for them and that the doors are open should they wish to progress down that route.

'There is, however, going to be a price and firms may find that if they are able to demonstrate just a bit more flexibility then more legal professionals will be prepared to pay it.'

The research also supports that of Eversheds last year, which found that 40 per cent of junior lawyers worldwide found the partnership model out of touch with the 21st century.