The people factor: Five ways law firm leaders can attract, nurture, and retain top talent

May 09, 2023

The recent UK Legal Office and Facilities Forum (LOAFF), hosted by Williams Lea, invited members to discuss and debate current law firm challenges relating to recruiting, retention and resourcing.

An expert panel of HR and operational leaders representing both international and UK law firms including King & Spalding, Dentons, and Freeths, joined an audience at DLA Piper’s London office to share ideas, insights and challenges on this hot topic.

Here are the top key takeaways from the discussion:

Firms need to be creative about how they attract and retain talent for support roles

The panelists all agreed that the job market has changed significantly in the last few years. While there is still a war for talent, things are slowing with 23% less jobs being advertised within the sector than six months ago. Despite an uplift in the number of applications per role, it is increasingly difficult to fill junior business support vacancies, as other sector roles become more attractive to job seekers.

Expanded benefits were identified as a key factor in attracting and retaining talent, as people seek more than just a good salary. Jenni Hardy, Head of HR EMEA at Williams Lea, noted that “firms also need to offer benefits that are meaningful, and career growth is a differentiator that you can add.” Development and recognition are important for younger workers, and firms should look to utilize tools such as the apprentice levy to provide growth pathways and mentorship to those in more junior roles. Other benefits mentioned by panelists included both formal and informal training for employees, financial support and training, pet insurance, childcare and virtual GP services.

Economic pressures are slowing and, in some cases, freezing recruitment

Despite the challenges in recent years, many law firms have been very profitable and experienced growth. To keep up with this growth, recruitment has been high, and salaries have been significantly uplifted. Economic pressures are now beginning to take their toll and firms need to evaluate if this historic growth will continue. Recruitment is expensive, and firms will think twice about hiring. One panelist commented, “There are potential concerns of hiring and recruiting freezes, not necessarily reduction of heads, but every business case is being scrutinized as you would expect in this climate.”

Pausing recruitment can benefit firms, but the knock-on effect on existing teams needs to be considered. “How can I continue to motivate the teams when their workload is unlikely to drop? It’s about how we empower them to manage that and to feel able to push back on less urgent matters, knowing they have leadership support. We are all so quick to say ‘yes we can deliver’ but we set ourselves up to fail and that’s not what we want to do,” added Sue Kingdon, Head of Operations at Dentons. Firms will need to empower their employees to set healthy boundaries and maintain their wellbeing.

Investment works both ways

In junior or support staff roles, firms need to ensure employees feel valued, recognized and can develop within the business. Putting tools in place for people to grow and develop should be a priority, “whatever stage an employee comes in at, they have to be the best in class with capacity to develop their skills and advance their careers if they want to. We try hard to create a pathway for them to achieve this,” commented Mark Blakemore, COO at Freeths.

“If we have people who leave the business but feel that they have been supported to accumulate knowledge and experience that is of value to them, they become advocates for us anyway,” he continued. While employee attrition is inevitable, making investments into the growth and development of talent can aid retention and encourages employees to return that investment in the firm.

Organizational culture needs to be prioritized

Attraction and retention are big topics across all sectors, but one key challenge noted during the discussion was the ability to build and communicate a culture properly within the firm. Managing Director of Jonson Beaumont, Anne Harnetty, noted, “Quite often we think we do it well, but we pay it lip service so we don’t build that culture. We don’t get people into the office and we certainly don’t retain them. There is nothing tying them to the firm.”

This culture challenge has become even harder with the growth that firms have experienced in recent years. Mark Blakemore added, “We’re bringing in a lot of people to fuel that organic growth, but ensuring that our culture is actually embedded in the people we bring on can be a challenge, particularly, when we’re working in a hybrid way.” Law firm leaders have a responsibility to ensure employees understand what it means to be a part of the firm’s community and motivating everyone to deliver the best outcome for the business.

Firms need to balance flexible working with maintaining a collaborative culture

Flexible working is now one of the most important considerations for job seekers, and offering agility wherever possible can be a real benefit to firms. “Where we can offer flexibility or hybrid working, it absolutely makes a difference to how quickly we can fill that role. Those roles are the most attractive and are sought after by the best and most experienced people in the market” comments Jenni Hardy.

Ruth Davison, Associate Director of HR at King and Spalding, offered another perspective on hybrid working, “I see the benefit of flexibility on attraction and retention, but there are reasons why businesses are increasingly requesting people back into offices. There is a real benefit from collaboration, particularly for those in junior roles and/or those looking to develop, so there is something that is being lost by flexibility that has to be addressed.” An increase in flexible working requests, compressed hours and location ambivalent roles are only adding to the challenges firms are facing to not only retain their talent but also embed their culture, while being open to new ways of working.

To learn more about the key factors that help maximize productivity in a hybrid work environment, download our future of work brief, The eight Cs of hybrid working.