Why are traditional firms losing so much talent to legal consultancies?

Reading time: five minutes

Covid was unquestionably a period of time that most of us would sooner forget. Throughout much of the crisis, we were forcibly cut off from our friends and family, our daily routines, and even from stepping out into the outside world.

However, with our lives temporarily put on hold in this way, many people took time to consider what it is that really matters to them. The pandemic came as a painful reminder that our time is finite, and that making memories with our nearest and dearest is more important than chasing deadlines and working every hour under the sun.

This is precisely what led many law professionals to reset the trajectory of their careers by moving away from traditional firms – which are typically marked by high levels of pressure and out-of-hours working – and towards legal consultancies. With consultancies growing at three times the rate of mid-market law firms as a whole, according to Arden Partners, it’s clear that the appeal of joining a consultancy is far outstripping that of working for a traditional firm. In fact, if consultancies continue to grow as they are, as many as 3,000 of the UK’s 10,000 law firms could either close or merge over the next few years.

As such, traditional firms that are struggling to keep up with consultancy competitors risk disappearing for good. Despite this, all is not yet lost, and if they take the time to understand why so many people are switching to consultancies, traditional firms may just turn the tide on the exodus of talent.

What can consultancies offer?

While compulsory face mask wearing and social distancing have, thankfully, now been consigned to the past, there are some aspects of the coronavirus crisis that have left a lasting impact on everyday life in the UK. Among the most prominent of these is the normalisation of remote working, a practice that that the majority of businesses were sceptical about prior to the pandemic. This is because many feared that allowing workers to do their jobs outside of a traditional office setting could have a detrimental effect on team productivity. It must have been a surprise for these business leaders, then, that working from home during covid proved an overwhelming success. Indeed, a recent study by the Equal Parenting Project concluded that 59.9% of managers now believe that hybrid working has actually made their employees more productive than ever before. What’s more, this enhanced level of productivity hasn’t come at the sacrifice of employee wellbeing. Now, more than one in eight workers say they want to work from home permanently, according to NHS Wales, having enjoyed the better work/life balance that doing so affords them.

This appetite for hybrid working among workers has been seen across a broad range of industries, and the legal profession is no exception to this. Working from home during lockdown gave many in the sector their first taste of remote work, having spent years in the office, five days a week, prior to this. All of a sudden, they found themselves doing their jobs without the time, money and stress that comes with a daily commute, or all the politics that come with office working. Instead, they were given the space to fulfil their duties, while being able to spend far more time than ever before with family and friends. However, when the government eventually lifted compulsory work-from-home mandates, many traditional law firms merely reverted back to a ‘business as usual’ mentality by ordering staff back into the office. This move was, in many cases, totally contrary to the improved productivity and employee satisfaction that many firms achieved through remote working during the pandemic and, as such, felt incredibly misguided to many legal professionals.

Consultancies, on the other hand, appear to have understood the benefits that remote working can bring to employers and employees alike, with 96% of them offering some form of agile working, according to the MHA. Given this, we’re seeing many law professional are moving over to consultancies, keen to reclaim the sense of flexibility that they gained during covid. With hybrid working having largely cut many of the ties employees felt towards their workplaces, making the move to consultancy has become an increasingly viable option to many and the natural choice to some. When you combine highly competitive and appealing pay with the vast array of hybrid working opportunities on offer, it’s hardly surprising that so many professionals are being drawn to consultancy. And considering how little they have done to move with the times, can traditional firms exactly blame them?

Turning the tide

In light of this, it’s clear why so many traditional firms are trailing behind consultancies in the race for top talent. While the traditional players in the industry face extinction for failing to evolve, it’s not yet too late to get things back on track. By making a more concerted effort to engage with employees and discover what it is that they want from the work in a post-covid landscape – whether that’s more flexibility or support to tackle their bursting workloads – firms can create environments where workers feel both happy and motivated in their roles, equipped with the tools that they need to succeed.

While it’s true that clients help keep the lights on, traditional firms should never lose sight of the fact that their workers are their single greatest asset. If they walked just a mile in the shoes of their employees, senior partners might have a clearer picture of just how important remote working is to them. It’s not just a pointless gimmick; in the incredibly fast-paced world of today, it’s a vital and highly sought-after benefit that keeps workers satisfied, engaged and sane in their jobs. Instead of guessing what it is that employees need for themselves, partners must talk to teams directly to gauge how best they can support them. If workers are calling for greater flexibility in their jobs, firms need to be at least open to the idea of giving it to them because if they aren’t, they could end up paying with the ultimate sacrifice.

Gone are the days when firms can expect to claim a monopoly on employees’ time. The world is a far different place than it was even a few years ago, and traditional law firms need to get with the programme if they’re to survive and thrive.

Alexander Dick is the CEO of Alexander Lyons Solutions.