Junior lawyers want 'values' from City law firms

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Approximately 75% of junior lawyers have said they wouldn’t join a firm “whose values didn’t match with their own, even if they were offering more money”, a recent survey published by Obelisk Support reveals.  

The survey also found that: 

• 85% of junior lawyers are “looking to effect positive change in society”; 

• 65% believe their employers “should allow them to refuse work on certain matters for ethical reasons”; but 

• only 18% believe their bosses buy into this view. 

These results were published just days after it was announced that junior lawyers in the City are paid approximately three times more than the average graduate salary. However, a separate survey found that on average these junior lawyers were working at least 12 hours a day, particularly at US firms with London offices.  

Dana Denis-Smith, lawyer and CEO of Obelisk Support, stated: “The reality is that there has not been the internal change and new ways of working (beyond working at home vs in the office) to address the real issues facing the industry.” 

She added: “There is an obligation to reset our values as a legal profession.” 

In the past, junior City lawyers spent their time doing, what The Times describes as, being “required to behave like small children at an adult dinner”; however, lawyers are now placing a far greater emphasis on values, work/life balance and environmental, social and governance efforts.  

One associate at a City law firm suggested older lawyers express a level of “resentment” towards more junior lawyers with another asking: “Why can’t the mindset be ‘I worked under terrible working conditions, so you don’t have to’?”