Associates adjusting attitude in downturn
By Lorraine Mallinder
The Lawyers Weekly
16.01.09
With the economy in the toilet, fresh-faced associates are in for a reality check.
The days of big demands, enormous perks and multiple job offers seem to be over. These days, many young lawyers are starting to be more grateful, and less demanding, than they have been over the past few years.
Building a career in law used to be so straightforward. Back in the old days, wide-eyed youngsters filed out of law school with dreams of partnership or appointment to the bench. After years of assiduous toil they would eventually acquire the gravitas needed to make their mark. The world was a steadier, more predicable place.
Today’s breed tends to emerge from college more accomplished and worldly wise, with a far more exotic range of ambitions. Possessed of a steely pragmatism unknown in their predecessors, they are prepared to keep their heads down only for as long as it suits them. Or, so the theory goes …
Sylvain Lussier, a veteran litigator at Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt, who recently celebrated 30 years in the business, is bemused at the new generation of rookie lawyers. “They’ve learned to say no. They tell us they don’t have the time when we hand them a file,” he says. “I would have been out of the door. In the old days, you didn’t have the choice.”
His reminiscences are, to a certain extent, shared by Cameron Rusaw, a corporate lawyer of 20 years standing at Davies, Ward, Phillips and Vineberg. Rusaw only started out in the eighties, yet his account of his early days as a slightly awe-struck ingénue is redolent of a bygone age.
He remembers feeling “fortunate” when he first arrived at the firm. “Back in my day, you joined the firm and wanted to be a partner. You put your head down and eventually you would be rewarded ... If there was an obstacle in the way, you worked through it, stuck it out.”
To a certain extent, the deepening recession may herald a return to earlier attitudes. John Childers, a legal consultant at Hildebrandt International, says that “associates with decent jobs nowadays will be more thankful”. “Two years ago the vast majority of departures were voluntary. Now a lot of people leaving aren’t doing so by choice,” he says
Childers has carried out extensive research on drivers of associate satisfaction in the US and Canada, identifying four different categories of associate: the ‘flexibility seekers’ seeking satisfying work and work-life balance, the ‘called lawyers’ who value pro bono work, the ‘willing workers’ who aspire to “work hard, play hard, retire early” and the ‘career practitioners’ aiming for partnership.
While the signs are that these groups will continue to exist, Childers foresees growing unease among the more driven as opportunities dry up. “There’s a bunch of associates out there who want a full plate of work. You will see more frustration in that group as less work goes around,” he says.
François Paradis, an associate at Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt, rates “adaptability” and “entrepreneurial skills” as the must-haves for any lawyer looking to succeed in the business in these unpredictable times. Adaptability, in particular, will be essential to remain relevant in a global market which is in constant flux, he says.
While the headhunting industry is still touting an impressive range of postings in stellar locations – surely a major temptation for any young lawyer on a bad day - there is a sense that the opportunities on the ground are thinning. Paradis says that the recession has been something of a “reality check” for young lawyers who, until now, may have been under the impression that they had the world at their feet.
Some associates are happy to take things as they come. Natalie Renner, an associate at Davies, Ward, Phillips and Vineberg, speaks of taking things “year by year”. “It’s really important not to overwhelm yourself,” she says. Her approach nonetheless has a very deliberate thrust. Focus and determination are the principal qualities needed to forge a successful career, she says – “a lot of the other things will flow from that”.
Career plans, says Paradis, “crystallise with time”. “Most of those who have the opportunity to work in a large, well-established law firm will think they owe it to themselves to try it out,” he says.
Success for many associates is, as Renner puts it, a “very personal thing”. One of the most noticeable side-effects of associates taking their careers in their own hands has perhaps been the increased emphasis on work-life balance in many firms. It is a trend that looks set to survive the economic downturn. With single-income households fast becoming a thing of the past, male and female associates are finding that they have to juggle their professional lives with personal demands.
Rusaw sees the changes as being hugely positive. “It’s an idea that career is important but that there are other things,” he says. Whatever the work arrangements, today’s young lawyers tend to be just as driven and ambitious as their earlier counterparts: “They want feedback, training, evaluation and they want interesting work. To me, these are all fair demands. That’s what we’re looking for.”
In many ways, today’s associates are not so different from the rookies of yesteryear. Julie Gallagher, a junior litigator at Bélanger Sauvé, speaks of wanting to “narrow” rather than “broaden” her career options. She speaks of honing her practice to a fine art, “putting in the research, pushing your questions, always trying to give that little bit extra to the people you work with”.
Social and technological change notwithstanding, things haven’t changed so much, says Lussier. “I worked long hours, they work long hours. There are still 24 hours in the day, seven days in a week. If you want to be a litigator, there aren’t many ways to do that,” he says.
There is every indication that those young guns who prove capable of toughing out the hard times may not look so different than the senior partners of today, whichever route they take to the top. The main advantage that this new generation has now established that there is perhaps more than one way to get there.
Emerging trends relating to career prospects and mobility for younger lawyers will persist despite the slowdown. “My guess is that it will be a short term phenomenon,” says Rusaw. “When busy times return, and they will, law firms will be scrambling again to hire associates.”