Law firm HR deserves more respect

For the benefit of the person in Career Clinic agonising over whether to come clean about the lies on his, or her, training contract application form, here’s the official advice. He or she should either withdraw the application and start applying for training contracts again after a decent interval, or else come clean to the firm in question and ask for clemency.

This was the view of a group of HR directors I met up with last week during a roundtable staged by recruiters Hays Legal and Legal Week to discuss the latest trends in recruitment and retention.

To be fair, the panel was hardly likely to adopt the 'keep quiet and hope for the best' line taken by a number of contributors to the debate that has been raging in Career Clinic. Then again, those present did express absolute confidence in the ability of any law firm worth its salt to spot false information on CVs and application forms – and just as much certainty over the fate of anyone caught cheating.

But there was a grey area. What if the person came forward and owned up to the firm before they were found out? Might they be given a second chance? The odds of such an outcome were put at 50-50 by the assembled gathering.

The roundtable featured representatives from a good crosssection of firms, including Herbert Smith, Nabarro and Kirkland & Ellis. There will be a full write-up in Legal Week in due course. But here’s a sneak preview of some of the issues that came under discussion.

• While bonuses are here to stay, they are not regarded as brilliant retention tool. Why? Because everybody is offering them these days and assistants are still most concerned about what their salaries are going to be.
• There also seemed to be broad agreement that there was only so much room for law firms to accommodate those people who want to pursue alternative career paths.
• And there was a similar recognition that the idea of ‘work life balance’ needs to be kept in perspective, given the salary scales at the leading firms.

Law firm HR is often derided by assistants. It is an issue that regularly crops up in Career Clinic postings. As is the case with every support function, the quality of HR teams is directly linked to the willingness of partnerships to take them seriously.

A key turning point came in 2006 when Allen & Overy’s managing partner, David Morley, took such a conspicuous role working alongside HR director Genevieve Tennant during the overhaul of the firm’s bonus and career structure.

And this week's appointment of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer employment partner Caroline Stroud to the newly-created position of global human resources partner is also significant – as was Mark Rawlinson’s recent admission in Legal Village that partners at the firm need to get more involved in trainee recruitment.

Underlying all this activity is the scrutiny law firms are coming under thanks to the web’s ability to allow people to share information about law firms – information that can, if these firms are not careful, drive a coach and horses those those glitzy brochures.

The smart firms are wising up to this – and listening to the critics. And if you don’t believe me, take a look at the posts on Freshfields’ entry in the Legal Week Wiki.