World awaits new intake
The latest cohort of newly-qualified solicitors have a wealth of choices to look forward to, writes Olivia Moore
What does the future hold for a new lawyer? As we welcome another cohort of Scottish solicitors into the legal profession, it’s easy to look around and see potential. This marks the day that, in most cases, the last seven years have been leading up to. The majority of newlyqualified solicitors in Scotland have undertaken an LLB degree, followed by a Diploma in Professional Legal Practice and a two-year traineeship, working under the supervision of a Scottish qualified solicitor. Where will the next seven years take them? And what about the next 14?
For non-solicitors, the most you might know about their career is likely moulded by popular TV shows featuring courtroom drama like Suits or This Life, via personal experience such as making a will or buying a house, or possibly through your line of work. Is what you know a fair representation of the careers of solicitors? What do the majority of them actually do and where do they work? Where is this new crop of solicitors likely to end up?
Being a court-based lawyer working in litigation isn’t as common as TV might lead you to believe. While many of these opportunities certainly do exist, such as working as a Procurator Fiscal, a criminal defence lawyer or in dispute resolution, a lot of our solicitors fulfil a range of other functions. Not all legal matters see a courtroom.
It might be surprising to hear, for example, that almost a third of our members work “in-house”, which means working as a resident lawyer within organisations as diverse as High Street banks, the Scottish Rugby Union or NHS Scotland to name just a few.
Interestingly too, just under
10 per cent of our 12,000 strong membership of Scots qualified solicitors work in another jurisdiction. Being a Scottish solicitor is recognised internationally as a valuable brand, which gives future members some serious flexibility when thinking about where they might want to work later on.
There are, as you might expect, a full spectrum of law firms in Scotland. Those on the High Street serve the needs of local communities in property services, private client, family law and criminal work. Some firms, typically in major cities, also serve a variety of different businesses, inside and outside Scotland.
The legal market is seeing the same kinds of trends in recruitment as many other professions at the moment; there is a demand for (and generally a response to) more flexible working, an aim to increase diversity in the workforce and an increased development of technology to create efficiencies and modernise the industry.
There’s also a higher turnover of more junior solicitors making multiple career moves to work out where they fit, which creates churn in employees and can be hard for employers to deal with. New models of working are becoming more prevalent, such as freelancing and working on a contractual basis.
The career picture in general for new lawyers is always evolving, as new demands and opportunities come up to serve society in different ways. The great thing about working in the law is that there is never one thing that you have to end up doing which, again, is unlike what TV would lead you to believe.
The breadth of work is massive. Some people are drawn to a particular area of law from the outset, whereas it takes other people longer to make their choices. The likelihood is that if this group of new solicitors were to meet up in the future, each of their journeys would look very different; career opportunities in the law are far from one-dimensional.
Olivia Moore is head of careers and outreach at the Law Society of Scotland