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Seven in ten legal professionals put off by lengthy recruitment processes

72% of legal professionals say a lengthy recruitment process puts them off a job, according to the latest Insight Series Whitepaper from recruitment specialists Robert Walters. 

The whitepaper, entitled “Managing Your Employer Brand Throughout the Recruitment Process”, reveals that 70% expect a full recruitment process (from application to job offer) to take four weeks or less – but only 25% of employers say it takes this little time in reality. 

During the process, 70% of legal professionals also expect a response within six days of applying for a job, while 65% expect a job offer after two interviews (96% expect a job offer after three interviews). But – despite these preferences – 88% have applied for a job and not received any feedback and 56% have been for a job interview and not been given any update on their performance. 

Crucially, 91% of legal professionals also discuss their experiences of the recruitment process with friends and/or colleagues.

Colin Loth, Director of Legal Recruitment at Robert Walters, comments:

“It’s clear from these survey results that legal professionals who apply for jobs like the recruitment process to move quickly and many would turn down a role if it took too long. They also like to be provided with feedback on both their initial application and interview performance.

 

“With the majority of legal professionals also tell people about their experiences during the recruitment process, failure to comply with these wishes can clearly impact an employer’s reputation in the market and companies that – for example – that take the time to explain a rejection provide job seekers with a positive representation of their brand despite the fact they may be delivering disappointing news.”

 

To find your next legal role, browse the latest opportunities from Robert Walters on TotallyLegal

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About the Robert Walters Insight Series

The whitepaper, Managing Your Brand Throughout the Recruitment Process, is the first in the Robert Walters Insight Series. The findings are based on research conducted by Robert Walters in September 2012, with the statistics based on the survey responses of 1,306 job seekers and 250 hiring managers. Of these responses, 168 of these job seekers were legal professionals (either working in-house or private practice) and 59 of these hiring managers routinely recruit legal professionals. 

The Insight Series is a range of thought-leading whitepapers aimed at assisting employers in their recruitment strategies and helping them to address key talent management issues. 

About Robert Walters

Robert Walters is a leading international recruitment consultancy, with a network of 51 offices spanning 23 countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Continental Europe, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, South Africa and South America. For more information, visit www.robertwalters.co.uk 

A Partnership or the Battle of the Sexes

By André Field 

André Field is managing director of Kingsley Blair and has over 15 years’ experience in legal recruitment.

In original research carried out by Kingsley Blair, the specialist legal executive search consultancy, of partnership promotions in 2012, women had to work almost 500 days longer than men before being promoted to partnership.

What is the optimal age for a legal professional to start a family?

 

Study highlights:

• Laurence Simons survey found 31.6 to be the optimal age for legal professionals to start a family
• Female respondents perceived 32.3 to be the most favourable age to have their first child
• Male respondents would ideally start a family at the age of 30.6
• The average in-house lawyer at the age of 31.6 will compromise £75,287.84 in earnings during a 12 month maternity period earning statutory maternity pay
• The average lawyer within private practice will compromise £68,678.72 during a 12 month maternity period earning statutory maternity pay

 

Laurence Simons has conducted a survey of 300 international legal professionals asking at what age they feel it is optimal to start a family, so to not impact on their careers. On average, respondents felt that 31.6 would be the right age to start a family.  

 

Social Mobility - A little less conversation, a little more action please

By Naveen Tulli

Global Managing Director, Laurence Simons International Legal Recruitment. With over 20 years experience within the global in-house market at Laurence Simons, Naveen has gained unrivalled expertise and experience working with some of the world’s best known multinationals. 

Besides the Facebook IPO, the demise of yet another Yahoo! CEO and the potential withdrawal of Greece from the Euro zone; social mobility has been the talk of the town this week. The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, recently announced the Government’s new social mobility strategy and I have to say, I remain skeptical. Although social mobility is the one topic that politicians seem to be able to agree on, it is also the one that year on year they manage to not deliver on. 

The Rise of the Mid Market Law Firm

By Gary Weiss

Gary Weiss covers the appointment of Partners, Associates and Counsels within international and boutique law firms across North America and abroad. Gary Weiss is based in New York City and is part of the specialist international legal recruitment consultancy, Laurence Simons. 

While everyone associated with the legal profession is aware of the devastation which occurred following the financial crisis of 2008, they may not be aware that there were some law firms that saw the new landscape as an opportunity for growth. As a result of the massive cuts and layoffs which were attendant to the larger law firms, boutiques and mid sized firms now had the chance to add great talent. 

During the time that all of the major international law firms were downsizing in early 2009, the stagnant job market was being flooded with the highest calibre of attorney candidates, lawyers who attended the top law schools and were well trained by some of the greatest legal minds in the country and in some instances, the world. 

However, only the shrewdest, best informed and most financially sustainable partners and owners of mid sized and smaller firms were able to take advantage of the trickle down effect which was occurring then. Many of the best and the brightest who had graduated at or near the top of their class were suddenly breaking down the doors to their law firms for jobs. Not only did these partners find top talent suddenly available for the picking, they also found that talent was willing to work for a salary which was far less than the lockstep salary that associates had previously become accustomed to earning in larger firms.  

As the legal job market has been improving incrementally over the past few years, international law firms have slowly begun to hire again, although at a much less frantic pace than before. However, the mind set of the associates who had worked at those firms changed substantially. 

In short, associates who had previously bought into the Horatio Algier work ethic of the legal world; got into the best law schools, worked hard, took on massive debt with student loans, for the opportunity to work for a Top 100 law firm and move up the ladder to partnership; learned to look beyond the very top of the AmLaw 100. With fewer opportunities available, the large law firms where associates had previously billed countless hours prior to the downturn became less attractive. Many associates began to question the logic of billing 3,000 hours+ per year if it was going to result in them being laid off and in effect, scurrying to find a new job or in some cases, a new career.   

As a recruiter, I cannot begin to tell you how many intelligent, well educated and accomplished attorneys came to my door begging for me to find them any type of legal job at any salary. Some of these attorneys were able to find satisfying work, but the majority of them did not and in some instances, some of these brilliant people were forced to find new careers. 

I would represent to you that it was not only attorneys that changed their strategy following 2008, as recruiters were also forced to move outside the paradigm of working only with larger law firms. As a result, I began to enhance and grow relationships with many middle market and boutique law firms in the New York Metropolitan area, some of whom I had never worked with before. In some instances, I had never heard of these firms. However, once I was able to educate myself as to the culture and practices of these firms, as well as meet some of the Partners and decision makers on a personal level, I developed many relationships which I would hope and expect to continue over the next decade....

 

.....to be continued.... 

 

Looking for a new legal opportunity? Search and apply for the latest opportunities from Laurence Simons onTotallyLegal 

 

 

Proprietary ownership of social media accounts

By Chris Hoole 

Chris is a trainee solicitor at Walker Morris in Leeds.Before joining Walker Morris Chris studied English Law and European Law at University where he focused on cyberlaw and cybercrime as part of his dissertation. Since University, Chris has worked both in Dubai and Hong Kong.

The incessant rise in social media, and its use both in a personal and business related capacity to disseminate information, has forced employers to question the profitability, and potential value, attached to the followers of their employee’s accounts. As a result, employers are now looking at ways in which they could retain those followers once the employee has left the company.

Who owns my Twitter account?

Ask yourself: Do you use Twitter at work? Does your company name feature in your Twitter profile? If you answered yes to either of these questions has it ever occurred to you that your employer may, one day, take over your Twitter account? Following a recent US case, UK employers and employees are now compelled to address these difficult questions which in themselves raise some interesting, and complicated, points.

How much are your twitter followers worth to your employer?

Noah Kravitz was an employee at Phonedog in the US.  While working for the company he set up and Tweeted under the name @Phonedog_Noah. By the time he left the company, taking his account with him, he had amassed a massive 17,000 followers. His ex-employer, Phonedog, subsequently claimed ownership of his account, and sued Kravitz for a hefty £1.60 per follower per month.

The Noah Kravitz case has fuelled significant debate in the UK regarding ownership of social media accounts by UK employers.  Only last year, the Telegraph reported that "the BBC's chief political correspondent Laura Kuenssberg moved from the BBC to ITV and took her Twitter account - and its 58,000 followers - with her." In addition, LinkedIn has already seen its share of litigation: in 2008 an ex-employee of Hays was ordered to hand over his LinkedIn account; and, this year, an ex-human resources executive of BG Group brought a claim against the company for constructive dismissal after he uploaded his CV to LinkedIn. LinkedIn, however, is intrinsically different to Twitter; unlike LinkedIn, followers do not need to seek your permission to follow you or show any physical connection, whether present or historical.

Undoubtedly, employers are becoming ever increasingly aware of the financial and reputational benefits of social media. In light of the obvious financial benefit of employing a successful Tweeter, the question has therefore been raised: how can an employer in the UK own my Twitter account?

Contractual ownership of Twitter accounts

A potential approach which we may see taken by some employers, is the incorporation of proprietary ownership into the employment agreement, or social media policy. However, as these, potentially unsettled, waters are yet to be tested it is unclear how exactly this would be contractually defined. The Kravitz case may provide some guidance.

Kravitz created his Twitter account during his employment, and used his company name to amass many thousands of followers - indeed, he may have exploited the company's website to promote his account. This - the creation of an account during employment and incorporation of the corporate ID - could form a basic definition of employer ownership. But what if the account was created earlier?  Whilst this may complicate matters an appropriate definition of "business use" may circumvent any get out the employee may have. Again, this could include the incorporation of corporate branding in the account bio and/or work related tweeting.

A counter-productive future for social media

Twitter, unlike the archaic black book, provides individuals and employers with the ability to reach out to millions of potential clients - all of whom can be put on notice, in 140 characters or less, that the Tweeter has moved on. But, and it's a significant but, if that employee knew that at some point in the future, the Twitter followers that he may have spent months, even years, accumulating would one day revert back to zero, would that employee bother Tweeting at all? This, of course, raises worrying questions for Twitter, and the forum for innovative and fast-moving discussion, both personal and educational, this networking medium provides. That, though, is another debate in itself.

What are your thoughts? This blog is open for debate so please feel free to share your comments below. 

A new.era for top-level domain names

By Chris Hoole 

Chris is a trainee solicitor at Walker Morris in Leeds.Before joining Walker Morris Chris studied English Law and European Law at University where he focused on cyberlaw and cybercrime as part of his dissertation. Since University, Chris has worked both in Dubai and Hong Kong.

Anyone with £120,000 to spare can now submit their application for a new top-level domain name (TLD), known as a generic top-level domain (gTLD) to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). This generalisation of domain names will inevitably bring with it, not only a new .era for corporations and organisations - testing consumer confidence and scepticism - but, importantly, a new realm of legal issues including trade mark infringement, cybersquatting, brand protection, fraud and enforcement - all on a global scale.