Tony Angel: Meeting the needs of Generation Y

For hundreds of years, solicitors' training followed the apprenticeship model. Aspiring lawyers started as apprentices (articled clerks), became journeymen (employed solicitors) and finally, if they performed well enough, became master craftsmen (partners). In exchange for their fee, articled clerks were taken on, trained and mentored by particular partners. Although formal training did not exist, high gearing levels were rare; so personal, if sometimes idiosyncratic, attention was pretty well assured.

By the early 1970s, however, the world was changing fast. In response to economic growth and the internationalisation of UK-based businesses, law firms grew rapidly and hired large numbers of trainee solicitors. The highly personal element of one-to-one relationships with particular partners diminished to be replaced by systematic training and development. On-the-job training was also available and partnership prospects were good.

During the last three decades of the 20th century, the promise of potential partnership loomed large in the unwritten contract between firms and their lawyers. It compensated for the relatively low salaries and matched the aspiration many lawyers had to stay at their chosen firm for their entire careers.

The position today is very different. Law firm needs have changed and so have the expectations of new entrants to the profession. Much is made of diminishing partnership prospects in the big City-based firms; and it is true these firms are now growing more slowly in their core historic markets than they were in the 1980s and '90s. But the point should not be exaggerated; the health of any professional services firm depends on its ability to keep making partners in reasonable numbers. Linklaters has consistently elected about 32 internal candidates annually during recent years when overall partner numbers have remained steady. In London, the associates we elect represent roughly 7% of the local partnership. This is down compared with the 9.5% average in the '80s and '90s, but not unduly so.

On the other side of the coin are the very different expectations and motivations of the new 'Generation Y' lawyers. We are dealing with smart, dynamic and focused young people with a different - and in many ways, more balanced, mature and informed - approach from the past. They expect to be given early responsibility and challenges, excellent training, feedback and mentoring, interesting and demanding work and more flexibility and control over how it is handled. They also expect to be paid appropriately for their extra effort. Partnership is an ambition for some of them, but it is one of several options as they build a portfolio of skills.

Does all this mean the old apprenticeship model has irrevocably broken down? Certainly some think so, including the consultant David Maister. He points to structural factors such as the longer odds and road to partnership, coupled with the increase in lateral recruitment and the creation of senior non-partner positions. On the cultural side, he identifies factors such as increased stress and time pressures on partners, a shifting of responsibility for 'people issues' to human resources departments, an unwillingness within firms to be open about partnership prospects and a tendency to regard lawyers as consumable resources, rather than future assets of the firm.

In my view, Maister's structural obstacles are by no means inevitable or widespread. Certainly, Linklaters has taken steps actively to avoid them. The cultural threats he identifies are more compelling - it is incumbent upon law firms to address these head-on if they are to attract and retain the best talent.

Law firms today must meet the needs of Generation Y. They must form a new deal with their people that draws on the best elements of the old apprenticeship model. They must offer responsibility, challenge, feedback, mentoring and flexibility. They must create a real learning environment in which associates can grow and mature and learn skills that go far beyond technical expertise.

All of this is surely best provided within the context of powerful personal relationships between partners and junior lawyers. Firms can provide systems and support structures, but it is individual partners who must take personal responsibility for giving junior lawyers interesting and challenging work and the wherewithal and confidence to do it. It is partners who must make it a habit to provide prompt feedback and to encourage, correct and motivate their apprentices as they become journeymen and, possibly, master craftsmen.

We have, it seems, come full circle - although this time round, we are not asking trainees to pay for the privilege.

Tony Angel is managing partner of Linklaters.

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