La cibercultura como nuevas formas culturales

Research participants in both the quantitative and qualitative stages of the research were asked to comment on: • what, if anything, was done by

employers to entice them to remain in their role

• what might have encouraged them to remain in the profession. Many women interviewed indicated their employer had done little or nothing to entice them to stay when they tendered their resignation. one interviewee was offered an opportunity to work for the firm as a contractor and this enabled her to be retained by the firm for a few more years:

…in 2007 when I planning to leave, I was induced not to by the offer to change my working conditions to contracting work from home. In 2011 when I did ultimately leave, I had a pretty frank discussion with my boss, the partner I worked for, and I had secured other employment and he basically said to me well there was no other better deal he could offer me. (Female, Left profession, 45-49 years)

there were similar views among survey respondents and interview participants on factors that might have encouraged them to stay in the profession, and among females who used to work in private practice and in-house. Reflecting trends observed in Section 3 (relating to current practising lawyers) factors mentioned by lawyers no longer practising included:

Less emphasis on billable hours and a better work-life balance:

If the work had been less time intensive (i.e. working weekends) and less stressful (i.e. crazy/emotional clients) I would have enjoyed the role more. (Female, Left profession, 25-29 years)

The ability to properly manage my time - if I could have got my work done and left at 5:30 every day I would have lasted much longer. However, pressure for billables and “face time” made this impossible.

(Male, Left profession, 25-29 years)

More support for junior practitioners and less emphasis on budgets. Working less than 60 hours in a week. (Female, left profession, 25-29 years)

(Around one in four participants (24%) commented on this item in the quantitative stage.)

Greater access to and support for flexible working arrangements:

The opportunity to continue to do meaningful, challenging and regular work on a genuinely part time basis, with the ability to take account of my family responsibilities. (Female, Left profession, 45-49 years)

Increased acceptance of part time work for those of us with parenting responsibilities. More opportunities to work from home. Litigation imposes inflexible and externally imposed deadlines, so not compatible with part time and flexible work. (Female, Left profession, 40-44 years)

Achieving any sort of balance with a family with the hours that commercial lawyers work is almost impossible. It requires a huge amount of family help and/ or a nanny, and the reality would still be that you would barely see your child on a work day (i.e. not home for dinner/bath). (Female, Left profession, 30-34 years)

(Over one in ten participants (15%) commented on this item in the quantitative stage)

More opportunities to do the work they were interested in:

[I would have remained in the profession] if I could have used my three decades of experience in the health sector in the legal sector. I searched for three years to get a legal job and no one would hire me. No one seemed interested in my health sector experience and postgrad quals. Eventually, I got a badly paid job in conveyancing only to discover that lawyers are bullying bitches with no idea how to train and mentor staff. I am happier in the health sector. My law degree was a waste of time and money. (Female, Left profession, 45-49 years) I am a local government, town planning and environmental lawyer. There are very few jobs in this area of law as a consequence of the global financial crisis. Banks aren’t lending money to developers and so they aren’t applying for planning permission, therefore, there’s no legal work. I didn’t want to leave the legal profession. (Male, Left profession, 50-54 years)

(A small number (5%) commented on this item in the quantitative stage.)

Better professional support: Having someone who I could approach as a mentor to give me career advice/guidance. I left as I was unhappy in my position and felt there was nowhere left to go.

(Female, Left profession, 25 years or younger)

If I had been mentored and had proper office support I may have continued in the role for a longer period. (Female, Left profession, 25- 29 years)

Opportunity to discuss concerns with HR/partners without feeling this would be used against me professionally - if I’d had this opportunity, I may have stayed and tried out other areas within the law instead of leaving sooner than later.

(Female, Left profession, 25-29 years)

(Nearly one in ten participants (9%) commented on this item in the quantitative stage.)

A general culture change: Better culture within the profession and appreciation of diversity. (Female, Left profession, 35-39 years) There would have to have been a significant change in the culture, which I don’t see occurring in the foreseeable future. (Female, left profession, 25-29 years) (One in ten participants (11%) commented on this item in the quantitative stage.)

Salary commensurate to training, experience and hours worked:

There should be a set minimum wage for employed solicitors that reflects the high level of education, skill and experience involved. I found it disgusting that a secretary who didn’t miss much time off work in their life to study was being paid more than someone like me, with five years of a combined law degree and six years of litigation experience. A street sweeper earns about the same as I earned. I accept that a small minority of solicitors employed in top firms are on appropriate wages, but for the vast majority of employed solicitors the poor wages are a joke and there needs to be regulation of this. I would not have left if the wages were not so bad - there needs to be a strong union for young lawyers for better pay, but this will never happen as there are so many graduates competing for jobs.

(Male, Left profession, 30-34 years)

(One in ten participants (15%) commented on this item in the quantitative stage.)

Some of research participants indicated that nothing could have been done to entice them to stay in their role or in the profession, in particular former barristers. For these participants, at the point they decided to leave, it was too late for anything to be done to change their mind. others had decided that practising law was no longer for them:

Nothing, I had completely made up my mind that I no longer wanted to be a lawyer and was desperate to leave the profession. (Female, Left profession, 30-34 years)

Nothing - it’s not my passion.

(Female, Left profession, 25-29 years)

Despite leaving the profession, research participants identified a number of aspects of practising law that they missed. In particular, the challenging and interesting nature of the work, relationships with colleagues and clients, and the prestige of working as a lawyer:

Using my mind to resolve problems. Working with teams of intelligent, efficient, motivated people. (Male, Left profession, 50-54 years)

I miss the intellectually challenging nature of the work, the people I worked with (who were top practitioners in their field and highly capable and motivating), and some of the corporate structures which made my working life run efficiently.

4.6 Re-engaging lawyers