Much has been written about how the personal characteristics of different generations change over time, with a great deal of discussion in recent years about what has been dubbed ‘Generation Y’. These changes are evident in a professional workplace. Legal associates of today — especially the more junior ones — are much more aware of their own working needs than the generations that preceded them.
They want to be motivated by their jobs and are keen to take up opportunities for personal and professional development. They expect feedback from their seniors, greater opportunities for overall communication and clear career progression.
In order to meet these expectations, law firms must adjust. They need to ensure that there is a collective associate voice that can have a real effect on the future direction of the firm. And, not surprisingly, the firms that are doing this are discovering it is good for business.
SJ Berwin’s response has been two-fold. The law firm has established an Associate Solicitors Forum (ASF), an elected body of associate representatives whose main purpose is to ensure that there is clear and direct communication between associates of all levels and the firm’s management and strategy groups. The ASF’s presence enables issues that are important to the associate population to be discussed and considered by management.
The ASF meets monthly and has recently been asked to collate and circulate its views on issues ranging from how best to conduct meaningful appraisals to the question of how to administer flexible working hours. At present, the ASF is setting up its own intranet web page to assist communication among associates across the firm.
The second way in which we have been able to harness the opinions of our junior lawyers has been through an associates’ development programme called INSIGHT. The INSIGHT programme was established two years ago to bring together peer groups of associates from across the firm for three-day personal development programmes at key stages of their careers.
One of the objectives of INSIGHT is to increase associate engagement in the business. During each of these programmes associate groups are asked to consider a particular challenge facing the firm, and to provide their own thoughts and recommendations on how it should be addressed. On each occasion, an appropriate budget has been made available to put the best ideas into effect.
On one such programme associates were asked to propose novel ways for the law firm to mark its 25th anniversary. After much debate and discussion, the winning group produced the ‘Berwin Bus’ — leading to a traditional London bus being driven across Europe to visit each of the firm’s nine European offices.
On a more recent INSIGHT initiative, associates were set the challenge of designing a programme with which to put into effect a new culture and values statement across the firm.
This programme, which is currently being implemented, includes a series of videos capturing the feelings and attitudes of SJ Berwin solicitors, a new intranet-based feature showcasing the work of one team a week from across the firm, and an exceptionally well-attended seminar on developing mental toughness delivered by Olympic swimming gold medallist Adrian Moorhouse.
Whenever associates have been asked to generate ideas as part of a development exercise, their commitment and enthusiasm have been beyond question. They appear pleased to have the opportunity to get involved in the wider running of the firm.
The existence of a new generation of lawyers that demand greater engagement is a huge opportunity — provided that law firms have the self-confidence to respond positively and involve their associates more fully in the management of the business.
Ann Collier is head of training at SJ Berwin and Emma Herriman is the acting chair of the Associate Solicitors’ Forum at SJ Berwin.
