Lawyer Retention – Why a Transparent Career Path for Your Lawyers Is So Important
With the currently challenging recruitment market, law firm leaders should use every opportunity to build motivation and engagement within their firm and improve lawyer retention rates as an additional benefit.
Lawyers want to feel part of something with a larger purpose at work, and an essential element of this is a clearly defined career development scheme which sets out what must be achieved to progress and win promotion.
What should you be thinking about when considering a career progression scheme for the lawyers in your firm? There are several key elements which are set out below…
- Consult your lawyers – Ask your lawyers what skills and behaviours the firm should encourage to gain promotion. This way the lawyers will feel part of the process which will improve their buy in, and the overall success of the career progression scheme.
- The career path –Decide on the steps that are appropriate for your firm’s career path. The usual steps along the career path can include numerous stages such as Associate; Senior Associate; Managing Associate; Legal Director; Salaried Partner and Equity Partner.
- The competencies – Set out the knowledge and behaviours you want to encourage at your firm, so your lawyers can focus on what needs to be done to progress. Couple this with building both legal and business skills into your competency framework so that you develop well rounded partners with a wide range of skills and abilities.
- PQE requirement – Decide whether a PQE requirement is necessary for promotion. Some firms take the view that if you meet the required standard, it doesn’t matter how many years you have been qualified. Other firms take the view that a PQE requirement is necessary to ensure the lawyer has gained sufficient experience in both legal and business skills. In my experience there is no right or wrong answer. It depends on what best suits the culture of your firm.
- Lawyer assessment and feedback – Ensure regular development reviews take place with your lawyers to provide clear feedback of progress benchmarked against the agreed competencies. Honest and reliable feedback on how the lawyer is progressing is essential as is a consistent approach from managers across the firm.
- Personal responsibility – It is for the lawyer to make the case as to how they are meeting the agreed competencies, not the firm. Ownership and responsibility for career development lies with the individual lawyer.
- Transparency – Once you have designed your career progression scheme make it available to all in your firm via your intranet or if do not have one, the office manual. Champion the scheme and make sure you regularly refer to it in your communications so that everyone in your firm is aware of it and how it works. Ensure the scheme operates effectively, and that timescales and deadlines identified are achieved.
Your aim should be to design a career progression system which supports progression on merit ensuring consistency, fairness, and equality. If you can achieve this your lawyers will know exactly what they must do to be promoted and their sense of belonging and engagement with the firm should improve as a result.
If you would like to discuss any of the themes in this blog please contact me at ih@hopkinslegalconsulting.co.uk or call me on 0791 666 9095, I’d be delighted to hear from you.