Jennifer Veitch - Post-recession question: Is there a lawyer in the house?

Published on Sunday 16 November 2008 20:41

WITH law firms among the first businesses to be hit by the recession, much of the focus has been on how solicitors on Scotland's high streets are coping with the downturn in the housing market.

But with more than a quarter of solicitors working in-house, just how safe are their jobs in the current economic climate?

This will be one of the questions for the Law Society's In-house Lawyers' Group (ILG) at its AGM and symposium in Edinburgh next Friday, with "beating the credit crunch" at the top of the agenda.

Janet Hood, chair of the ILG, knows that in-house lawyers will have to work harder to ensure their skills are not seen as dispensable as the recession bites. In short, she wants to see in-house solicitors shouting more about their value to employers.

Ms Hood, who is head of BII Scotland, the innkeepers' professional body, knows from her own experience that the economy is beginning to hit hard – she has had to make her assistant redundant and is moving her office out of Edinburgh to cut costs.

"It is not as rough as it has been in conveyancing firms across the country, but people are losing their jobs and support staff are being let go because the economic realities are that all businesses can't afford to keep everybody on board," she says.

She insists that now is the time for in-house lawyers to show their value. "Things are quite difficult, but it's a negative way of looking at things," she says.

"We should be able to show businesses or organisations how important it is to have a strong legal team on board to help guide businesses through difficult times. This is when the business of being a lawyer rather than the law of being a lawyer should come to the fore."

One of the speakers at next week's symposium, Yvonne Dunn of Pinsent Masons, will give a talk on outsourcing to beat the credit crunch. Ms Hood suggests that businesses looking to cut costs by scaling back in-house legal teams might also want to consider whether it is a false economy. Many companies such as Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Standard Life employ extensive in-house legal counsel. "Who has the expertise that in-house lawyers have?" she asks.

"They develop very specific skills. These skills can be picked up by people in private practice, but it's not just the legal aspects that are important, it's the business aspects. If you are on the outside of a business, it's considerably harder to drive forward the dynamics of the business.

"I always say that an in-house lawyer can offer huge value for money. If they get involved in the business, the value for money goes through the roof. No-one cares about the fabulous clause in the contract you've drafted, but the chief executive wants to know that the business is being delivered."

Ms Hood acknowledges there are now additional pressures on in-house lawyers, including the cost of the annual levy to fund the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission. In recognition of the importance of the new complaints-handling regime, Ms Hood has invited the commission's chair, Jane Irvine, to give the keynote speech at the symposium. Ms Hood has gone on record with her concerns that the levy is creating an additional expense for employers of in-house lawyers – and sometimes the solicitors themselves.

"The Law Society worked very closely with us to (reduce] the levy to a third of the cost," she says. "However, it is hard, especially for those lawyers who have to pay their own practising certificate, for example, at Highland Council. That seems to me to be an unfortunate situation."

Despite the economic outlook, however, Ms Hood remains upbeat, and is a strong advocate of the career opportunities for in-house lawyers. She hopes that recent diploma graduates who are having difficulties getting traineeships in private practice will now see the opportunities in in-house law, for example in local authorities.

"Solicitors in a local authority will get a breadth of law in terms of training and sheer magnitude of law that you won't get anywhere else," she says.

"In private practice you are not going to get the opportunities of dealing with the movers and shakers from an early stage. In local authority you are going to be offered opportunities to deal with areas such as major planning projects."

She adds there is growing respect between in-house lawyers in councils and solicitors in private practice. "The great thing about working in local authority is that they recognise the strengths of their own team, which are very high, and that they couldn't possibly have special solicitors for every piece of arcane law they might come across," she says.

"The synergy between the two types of organisation is amazing. I believe there are more and more opportunities for secondment both to and from local authorities, and people on both sides benefit enormously."

As the Law Society starts a consultation on its education and training proposals, Ms Hood would like to see law schools recognise the role of in-house lawyers, if not at LLB stage then during the postgraduate diploma. "One of the frustrating things is the lack of knowledge that diploma students and trainees have about the fantastic possibilities of a career in-house," she says.

"We are working closely with university careers offices and the Law Society to promote in-house law. Universities have to become more aware of the in-house side of the profession." She adds that employers looking to recruit in-house trainees should look to capitalise on the decline in traineeships in private practice and raise awareness of the career benefits they can offer.

Ms Hood hopes the ILG can do more to promote the benefits of careers in-house, and suggests that in-house solicitors could be working more closely together to raise their profile. She adds the AGM and symposium offer an unrivalled opportunity for networking. "People get to network and feel good about themselves," she says. "I think it is going to be one of the best AGMs we have ever had."

&#149 The In-house Lawyers' Group AGM and Symposium is at the Hub in Edinburgh on Friday, 21 November.