Welcome to the Laurence Simons Newsletter

Generally speaking, across all locations and industries, recent times have been uncertain and challenging. That being said, there are many reasons to be optimistic. Latin America, Russia, Africa, Asia and the Middle East continue to experience a steady increase in demand for legal talent and whilst North America and Europe have struggled to weather the rather unique economic storm, there has been a consistent demand for legal staff in industry sectors such as Life Sciences, Oil and Gas, Technology and Telecommunications, as well as within specific practice areas such as Corporate, Funds, Competition and Regulatory. 

So, whilst there are presently mixed messages in the market and most clients have adopted a cautionary approach to hiring in 2012, thankfully, only a small number of law firms, multinationals or financial institutions have installed blanket hiring freezes.  Indeed, the vast majority who may have downsized during 2008 and 2009 appear to have restructured effectively and are noticeably better prepared for any further market deterioration, having diversified and streamlined their businesses and risk by focusing, for instance, on the emerging markets for their future growth.

So, it's not all doom and gloom and in that spirit, I hope you enjoy the contents of this month's newsletter.

Lawyers under fire

If you should feel the need to while away the afternoon by compiling a list of the world’s most dangerous places, the chances are that Canada would not be an obvious candidate for the ranking. Canada just seems a nice place. The land of welcoming people, big open spaces and low crimes rates. A country where you don’t need to worry too much about your personal safety. Unless you are a lawyer in Montreal of course. Almost overnight it seems that this hitherto quiet corner of North America has turned into something of a war zone for legal professionals. First came an unprovoked attack on criminal lawyer, Joseph Leggia, which put him in hospital for a lengthy stay. Then corporate lawyer, Thomas Kiriazais, had his house and cars firebombed with Molotov cocktails. And now a high profile defence attorney, Gilles Dore, has been comprehensively beaten with a baseball bat by unknown assailants.  Iraq? Libya? Afghanistan? Kids’ stuff. If you want some real excitement in your professional career, head for Montreal.

Glass half empty?

Given the fact that the eurozone project currently seems to be, not so much derailed, as flipped over on its back with its wheels spinning forlornly in the air, it’s perhaps not surprising that people all over Europe aren’t necessarily filled with optimism at the moment. However it is a bit odd that lawyers in the UK, which of course isn’t even part of the zone, seem particularly gloomy about the future. A survey of professionals in the country carried out by Laurence Simons last month found that while those working in areas such as accountancy and IT averaged 3.4 on a pessimism scale, lawyers were way ahead in the misery stakes at 7.8. Yet since 2007 nominal pay for lawyers has increased by 6.4%, while for accountants it has only gone up by a measly 0.1%. And over the same period the number of professionals employed in the legal sector has gone up by more than a tenth. As Laurence Simons’ MD, Lucinda Moule, puts it, “Whilst it’s sensible to protect oneself from overconfidence, the figures indicate that lawyers could afford to show much more optimism than they do. The obvious conclusion seems to be that many lawyers could approach their careers with more confidence than they currently do. And if they don’t, there’s a risk that highly qualified and talented people will settle for lower salaries because they have an unnecessarily pessimistic view of the market”.

Tough questions

Despite the increasing use of psychometric testing, role-playing and a host of other techniques, the heart of any recruitment process is still the interview; a fairly primitive question and answer session, which has remained virtually unchanged since the inventor of the wheel took on someone to help with axle development. Here’s the first in our series on some of the most commonly asked ‘difficult questions’ and how to take them in your stride.

Q: Tell me something about yourself
A: This is a classic ‘ice-breaker’, often used to get an interview started and to get you talking. Map out in advance the areas you would like to cover, which should include your qualifications and academic history, career to date, achievements and a few personal (but not too personal!) details to give the picture of a rounded individual. Don’t get carried away. This is an interview, not a chat show, so no matter how fascinating a person you are, five minutes should be sufficient.

More in the next issue...

New Global Legal Salary Survey and Market Trend Report

The next edition of our regular Global Legal Salary Survey and Market Trend Report will be published in January 2012. And we’re pleased to say that the research is looking set to be the most comprehensive and wide ranging that we have ever undertaken. More news on the project and actual publication date next time.

Please don’t go! How to deal with counter offers after resigning

1) Put yourself in your employer’s shoes. Resigning from your present position will have made them well aware that you were unhappy in your current role. Consequently, even if you agree to stay put, your loyalty may always be in question in the future.

2) If you are tempted by a counter offer, have a long hard think about what it was that made you start looking for a new position. Moving roles isn’t usually just about greater financial reward – it’s often about new challenges and increased responsibility. The reasons you had may well repeat themselves.

7) Consider the results of a study published in the Wall St Journal.  In this study, conducted over a three year period, over 50% of individuals receiving counter offers accepted them. Within 18 months, 93% of them had left – and the remaining 7% were actively seeking new employment.

Bad reviews

No, not of your job performance, but of the work you carry out for clients. It seems that everything is subject to public scrutiny and evaluation on the web these days – hotels, insurance, music, films – you name it, it’s up there. So why not legal services? The US, of course, is way ahead of everyone else on this , allowing employers of attorneys to express how happy they have been with the experience (and how small the bill was.... ) on a number of popular review sites. But now it seems that some legal eagles have decided enough is enough. The San Francisco Superior Court is currently playing host to an increasingly ugly fight between William Gwire, a prominent California attorney and his former client, a hedge fund manager which accused him of ‘horrific fraud’ on complaintsboard.com. How successful Gwire will be with his case will obviously depend on just how far the court decides consumer reviews can go before freedom of speech slips over into defamation. But whatever the outcome, disgruntled clients may in future think twice about just how vociferous and how public they may dare to be about their complaints.

Top dog

As the legal services market becomes ever more international it seems a new battle is brewing – a struggle to determine which legal system will capture the new generation of dual qualified lawyers in emerging markets. The two main contenders are, of course, the English system, which despite its relatively small domestic base, has punched well above its weight in global commerce and its Anglophone rival, US and most markedly New York law. And when David Bickerton, the managing partner of Clifford Chance, goes on record as saying, “We are in mortal combat with the New York legal system” you can be sure this isn’t just going to be a minor skirmish but an all-out war. If the English system is going to stand a chance of victory it may have to face some serious changes to make it more user-friendly to potential students from emerging markets, getting closer to the one-stop three year training programme the US offers. Otherwise it may find itself relegated to the status of a well-regarded but vaguely quaint option as US-trained lawyers roll on to world domination.

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