You should be so lucky

Law students, please banish Ally McBeal from your mind. The closest you will come to that LA legal dream is the look and approving 'ooh' you might get when you tell someone that you are training to be a solicitor. If you are going into law with such aspirations, be aware that although you can dine out on that momentary admiration, you will not be able to actually dine out.

But do not mistake my warning. I am very grateful that I got here. I've wanted to be a solicitor since I was 14, and that has not changed in ten years. However, the cost of getting here (and I'm talking about the finances and not the popular misconception that solicitors must sign away their souls), detracts somewhat from the glamorous legal lifestyle that some students undoubtedly anticipate.

Under the new system of £9,000 university tuition fees each year, this reality only becomes starker. Also, if you don't have the sponsorship and security of a training contract when you embark on your Legal Practice Course (LPC), you can add another £9,000 minimum (excluding any costs of living) to your estimated £45,000 university debt.

I feel that potential law students are being made aware of the risks they are taking at the wrong end of this process, that is once they are drowning in debt and unable to secure a training contract. The result is a multitude of fiercely intelligent, perfectly proficient, but totally disillusioned young professionals. I remember being told at school that getting a law degree was a competitive business, but I was always under the impression it was because you were fighting to secure a solid future. Now, like many of my peers, I am not sure that law is a secure 'profession'.

The risk that 'Tesco law' poses to firms has been widely debated. For those firms that are outside the magic circle, how realisable is the pipe dream of standardising processes to facilitate legal services being offered at more affordable rates? Even as a trainee, I have witnessed the difficulties associated with fixed-fee arrangements.

Inevitably, clients and their cases do not always permit the expenditure of an exact amount of time on a matter. To be viable, fixed-fee work must be provided on a large-enough scale to ensure a sufficient number of cases can be concluded in less time than allocated, thereby creating a buffer for those that run over.

Quality v bargain

The muscle behind alternative business structures, and large law firms, provide this buffer allowing for the margin of loss. But at what cost is this achieved? There is a risk of sacrifice associated with keeping up with the big players. The importance of the client relationship versus the value for money is the crux. Knowing your client in every aspect, and not just with regard to the issue they bring to you, is imperative to establishing trust and a long-standing symbiotic relationship. My security comes from knowing that as long as solicitors recognise this and act accordingly, there will be clients who choose the quality relationship over a 'bargain'.

Perhaps the argument to be made (as used against the death of the high-street practice) is that this 'incentive' will make trainees seek to be indispensable, driving us forward. However, we didn't get here by standing still. In fact, I think most of my peers would say we battled our way in and we are hardly lacking the impetus to keep pushing. Like anyone beginning their working life, I want to feel that my fees and hard work have secured my professional future.

I have friends who are trainees who have less than a 50 per cent chance of securing a newly qualified position. There are hundreds of graduates out there who I'm sure are much more capable than I am. And the fact that I was offered a training contract to sponsor my LPC, combined with my firm's retention rates being historically very high, makes me feel exceedingly humble and exceptionally lucky.

 

Pippa Allsop is a second-year trainee at Michelmores, currently in the family and contentious probate team

She writes a regular blog for Private Client Adviser