UK Law Articles
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The Times
June 30 1998
Edward Fennell on the gap between law students' expectations and the commercial realities of modern firms
Harsh truths for the class
The Class of '98 is facing its moment of truth. Whatever their careers may be as individuals - from top City practice to contingency fee-based high street firm - their great adventure starts here.
Among law firms, meanwhile, there are misgivings about the new-made lawyers. A recent research paper published by BPP Law School in London dissected their typical strengths and weaknesses. Yes, new-made lawyers are widely regarded as being "good with ideas and words". But their weaknesses are, perhaps, the more worrying. According to the report, many lawyers fresh from law school are "not commercially orientated". There is a lack of appreciation that legal practices must be run as commercial operations rather than intellectual talkshops.
To compound that, most of them have little rapport with the priorities of their clients. In particular, at the corporate end of the market they do not grasp that businesses see the law as a means to an end rather than an end in itself.
As Laurence Messer, managing partner of Davies Arnold Cooper, points out: "Few young lawyers at the recruitment stage have an innate business sense; many of them seem to be under a misconception as to what the law is about in practice. They lack a commercial orientation . . . and some of them have problems adjusting to the harsh reality that modern law firms are increasingly corporate in the way they work."
This was endorsed by Jane Player, head of graduate recruitment and legal education at Dibb Lupton Alsop, who comments that law firms have become businesses that happen to provide legal services. Some lawyers fresh from college have difficulty in taking this in. But, significantly, firms such as Dibbs and DAC are increasingly open to older people who have trained in other disciplines and switched to law in early mid-career.
Ms Player explains: "We have recently recruited a qualified engineer, a surveyor, a doctor and an RAF navigator, all of whom transferred to the law after a period in their first career. We like them because they have a wider perspective on what the law is about." DAC, meanwhile, has recently brought in a former high-flying police officer.
"He fits in well and has a lot to offer," Mr Messer says. "We often find that the most successful trainees are those who have done other things first."
To be fair to the present generation of law school students, they are no worse than their predecessors. What makes the case urgent, however, is that the pressure will be on these new lawyers to start billing earlier and at higher levels than in the past. The commercial challenges facing the practices they will work for will be tougher than ever, and the competition they face will be sharper, not least from the accountants.
In view of this, it is valuable for the lawyers to look at what the accountants are doing. The Institute of Chartered Accountants is intent on revamping its award to ensure that it becomes "the premier business qualification". More than most lawyers, the accountants have recognised that they are in the business of giving commercial advice to achieve business results.
