Career Clinic: Is now a bad time to qualify into pensions?

Don't be put off

There really isn't an area of law, other than inheritance tax planning, that isn't at risk of market forces. Pensions is a great area to qualify into - there's going to be a lot of high quality work for years. You just need to be astute enough to make sure that you acquire more general skills, so that you can move into another area of work if you need to. For example, working closely with your corporate dept colleagues will help. You'll also need to concentrate on marketing, which isn't always easy for pensions specialists.

Anon -01 Feb 2011 | 11:25

Go for it

I agree with the poster above that all areas of law are subject to increasing/diminishing demand depending what the market and economy are doing, but in my experience of recruiting lawyers, pensions lawyers have always been in as high demand as any other practice area (in fact often much more so – apart from a brief period during the recession). Yes, things are currently changing in the pensions industry which, fair enough, make you uncertain about the potential volume of work, but it is a sector that will undoubtedly continue to evolve and with it will bring new scope for your technical expertise.

If your firm are able to offer you a position, and you genuinely like this area of law, then my advice is go for it. And the advantage of becoming a specialist in such a niche and technical area of law is that after a couple of years’ pqe your expertise will certainly be in demand (assuming you’re good at what you do of course), whether you want to stay in a regional law firm, or move to a big City practice.

optimist -01 Feb 2011 | 11:45

Not for that reason

I wouldn't be put off by the closure of final salary schemes ("DB") there are still plenty left. Also, DB isn't all of the pensions world (or even close). There are still plenty of trust based defined contribution schemes ("DC") and contract based schemes (e.g. GPP, stakeholder and so on). Plus plenty of non-UK options. The closing DB schemes will likely move their members somewhere if they are still employed. And that move will likely generate some work for lawyers somewhere. There's also the joyous "corporate support" role for pensions, as most M&A lawyers know they need to check the pension position out for companies.

However... although I think there will be work out there for a while, there is a big debate ongoing over whether trust schemes or insurance company provided schemes are the way forward for pensions. In my view, the weakening of the pension business is a delayed reaction to the move away from with profits and other insurance based investment, together with the rise of the ISA. I would see it as entirely feasible that we could end up in a scenario where a corporate ISA account replaces pension investment as we know it. Also note the changes in behaviour on annuity purchase and the impact that may have on the insurance company investment space. NEST may also have an impact too at the cheaper end of the scale. These issues will all take a while to play out though, so my gut instinct is that you shouldn't worry unduly at this stage (if you can get a qualification position, that is an awful lot better than not having one) but you may want to consider broadening out into other areas of asset management. But then I would say that as I'm predominantly an AM lawyer rather than a pensions lawyer. Conclusion - I think pensions to be a fairly good area to be a lawyer in though, as successive governments can't help but meddle, which means your clients will need interpretative advice.

Stupot -01 Feb 2011 | 14:22

Diversify

It might be worth trying to get some experience of incentives at the same time - big employment teams are always in need of someone who understands tax and pension issues, so there will always be a role for you in that type of firm (I'm thinking of Lewis Silkin/Simmons & Simmons/Allen and Overy, etc).

Anonymous -02 Feb 2011 | 11:17

Pensions is changing

As previous posters have indicated, pensions law is currently in a period of significant change. However, this does not necessarily mean that it is not a good time to qualify into pensions law. Change often means that clients need to take legal advice. The closure of DB schemes is well documented, but many will be around for a long time to come. As others have mentioned, the pensions market is diversifying into new areas. Sackers is a specialist pensions law practice and we regularly recruit at NQ level. We have seen no let up in the level of interest amongst NQs in embarking on a career in pensions law.

Sackers -04 Feb 2011 | 09:50

Retrain

I am not sure if "Sacker" will get this - but I was wondering whether his/her firm every considers applications from more qualified, non-pension lawyers looking to retrain and happy to come in at NQ level?

Associate -07 Feb 2011 | 14:36

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

Ok, I'm obviously biased... but pensions is a cracking area of law to work in. It's intellectually challenging, it's commercial... but at its heart it's also about people.

People will always get old and they'll need some form of decent retirement benefit... yes, defined benefit pension schemes are in decline, but the pensions industry will evolve... as will pensions law... as the others have suggested... get involved.

Pensions Lawyer -08 Feb 2011 | 12:09

Pension + clear niche = success

I think more expertise will be needed in this area and it will get more contentious. Calm before the storm at the moment. As with any profession, having a clearly defined niche within pensions and building your personal brand with increase your chances of success.

talentliberator -08 Feb 2011 | 13:39

As long as there are politicians...

...pensions lawyers will have work.

Pensions lawyers are blessed by having successive governments who have no idea what to do with pensions issues, from making people save to keep them off state benefit when they retire poor, to how to regulate the ones that are left in the DB funpark. When it comes to DC they're even more clueless.

The work is interesting, its a chance to advise clients from the MD down to the cleaner (who volunteered to be an MNT) and if you're half good you'll always find work. In 30 years there may be a tailing off of work, but who knows what the legal profession will look like then anway?

Jump in, have fun.

Active male member -11 Feb 2011 | 15:54