Law firm loses flexible working case

Tribunal Case - Flexible working at Herbert Smith
As flexible working specialists, we have been working with the Law Society and the legal profession to see how flexibility can be addressed for women solicitors.
Among the City law firms, there is no homogenous culture. Most firms would say they provide workplace and working time flexibility, though often this is more available to admin and support staff than to professional lawyers. Some provide career breaks and sabbaticals, though typically these are short breaks (two or three months) and for senior lawyers with long years of service. In most firms, flexible work options are not consistent throughout the organisation. They depend on the area of specialism and on the attitude of individual managers. Usually, they are not available without penalty in terms of career progression and remuneration. A typical manifestation across the profession is a high attrition rate of women in the 30 to 40 year age bracket and a disproportionately low number of women at partnership level. In the legal profession, in addition to the deal driven long hours culture, the partnership structure of firms is a significant factor. This often gives rise to an ‘up or out’ approach to career progression. Attrition at middle stages of the career path is an accepted, and viewed by some firms as a necessary, component of the business model.
The impact of this for the profession is a significant loss of talent. More that 50% of trainee intake is women, but less than 20% achieve partnership level. Thirty years ago, less than 2% of all solicitors were women. Today it is more than 40%. The profession has not yet fully adapted to reflect this change.
We are setting up a pilot for the legal profession which offers a new model of flexible working - flexibility over the course of a long-term career. This will allow women solicitors to take career breaks and facilitate a return to professional life through the provision of career management support, interim project or contract work, ongoing training and networking. It will be suppported by the Law Society and major law firms. If it is successful for the legal profession, we hope the model will be adopted by other professions. Please contact me if you would like to know more about this pilot, or flexible working in the legal profession.