Legal employment market could be ‘hourglass-shaped’ by 2020, predicts Law Society report

The number of in-house lawyers will have grown much further by 2020, while technological advances could mean a legal profession with fewer solicitors and more paralegals and computers, a landmark report by the Law Society has predicted.

The paper, titled “The Future of Legal Services”, suggests that more specialist City solicitors will make the jump to in-house work, while the ways in which legal services are delivered will become ever more flexible.

The report also suggests that mergers will become more commonplace as smaller firms struggle to compete and the gap between struggling and profitable firms grows ever wider. Meanwhile, The Law Society Gazette reports that employment contracts for newly qualified solicitors and paralegals could become more flexible, as the ageing of the solicitor population leads to an ‘hourglass-shaped’ employment market, with fewer mid-ranking solicitors as the population becomes increasingly divided between those in senior positions and junior lawyers. More professionals could also relinquish the ‘solicitor’ title in order to exploit regulatory competition and establish businesses independently as ‘non-solicitor’ legal services providers.

Catherine Dixon, the Law Society’s chief executive, said: “Individuals and businesses seek and depend on excellent, affordable legal advice at critical times. Solicitors are innovators and are responding to changes in a highly competitive legal services market. With…the government’s consultations on opening up the market to more alternative business structures and the separation of the legal services regulators from legal professional bodies, it is timely to look at the factors driving change to stimulate debate among solicitors as they plan and prepare for the future. Our report is part of the Law Society delivering its strategic aim of supporting solicitors so that they can make informed decisions about the future. As the government consults on the future of regulation and the market, we will call for a fair regulatory playing field for all legal services, and for the solicitor profession to set and work to professional standards which it sets for itself. This will set them apart from non-lawyer providers.”

Read the full report here.