Careers

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10.Feb.2010

2010 is going to be one of the most difficult years in living memory for lawyers wanting to find a job, or even stay in a job, in local government. Nevertheless, there are rays of hope, especially for those who understand this market  and respond smartly, writes Neasa McErlean.

First: the bad news. “I fully expect there will be pay freezes for solicitors working in local government this year, unless we can do something about it,” says Peter Allenson, national organiser for public services at the Unite union.  He is currently negotiating 2010/11 pay terms for 1.6 million local authority workers with the employers.  So does he think the expected job losses will also reach lawyers? “They are going to be affected,” he replies grimly.

Allenson’s views are backed up by the four recruitment firms that LA Life spoke to for this article.  “Over the next 12 months, it’s going to be difficult, particularly in the lead-up to the general election,” says Kelly Wadkins, head of the locum team at Sacco Mann.  “All of our clients are talking of redundancies, cutbacks, restructuring legal teams and even shared services.”  And Katie Allen, business manager at Hays Legal says: “The impending budget reviews are already creating caution among local authorities and some are pre-empting budget cuts by taking measures early.  Some employers have put salary freezes in place and we are seeing others ask their legal teams to take reduced salaries or look at flexible working options in order to avoid making redundancies in the department.”

But there are, in fact, plenty of caveats to this bad news.  As Allen suggests, the local authorities are trying to avoid lay-offs.  “Redundancies will be the last resort,” says Andrew Kelliher, senior consultant at Badenoch and Clark.  And while pay freezes could be widespread, Rachael Woodman, one of the legal managers at Sellick, unlike Katie Allen, is not expecting the pay cuts that have happened in some parts of the private sector to come through to local authorities. “I have worked in placing people in the public sector for ten years and I’ve never known a pay cut,” she says.  In short, local authorities look likely to do as much as they can to limit the human damage.  “Vacant posts will be targeted first,” says Judith Barnes, governance head at the Eversheds local government department.  “And I don’t expect there to be a large number of compulsory redundancies.  They will try to do it voluntarily.”

Many eyes will be on Westminster City Council where, after two phases of cost-cutting through flexible retirement, personalised hours and other novel solutions, phase three - redundancy - is due to start in April.  Job losses of “upwards of five per cent” are being sought, according to Westminster director of human resources Graham White. “Our legal and administration team are going through the same change programme as the rest of the council,”  he says.  “These changes are significant and structural. We are looking for ways they can be more efficient and effective.”  He hopes that the job losses - for which redundancy notices are due to go out in July - can be done on a voluntary basis as far as possible. But he says that the needs of the business, especially in the way service delivery is being redesigned, will have an effect: “That might move the direction of travel differently to where volunteers are coming from.”

On the locum side, the recruiters are expecting a rather challenging year before the sector gets more buoyant.  “In the next financial year, and probably for the next 12 months, people are going to be really tight in the way they spend,” says Wadkins of Sacco Mann.  “But the locum market will come back.”  In early 2009, rates in some parts of the locum sector sagged as demand fell off, according to Sellick.  Whereas property locums had previously been able to charge as much as £50 an hour, their rates halved quite sharply.  Rates in property now range between £17 and £25 an hour, according to Sacco Mann.  Recruitment of locums has become slower and more bound up in red tape.  Northamptonshire County Council, for instance, stopped recruitment of temporary staff overnight on 6 October except in exceptional cases - and other councils are introducing other kinds of restrictions.

The good news is that demand for legal work is actually likely to increase in local authorities (especially if we have a Conservative government later this spring), the councils are trying to box clever as a way of resolving their problems and there are opportunities for determined and canny lawyers.  

Local government legal departments are already seen as operating on a skeleton staff. Rachael Woodman describes the embarrassment of  hearing the odd job candidate from private practice cite a better work-life balance as a reason for wanting to move over.  “You hear people say that and you cringe,” she says.  In fact, legal heads up and down the country are pondering how to get more out of their already-stretched legal teams, says Judith Barnes of Eversheds.  “Heads of legal have got to prioritise more,” she says. “Most legal departments will be expecting to have a cut in the budget allocation they get.”  As a result, she expects to see more attention paid to such issues as clever case management, training client departments to liaise more efficiently with the legal teams and, in particular, shared legal services.  Several authorities now have shared legal heads and still more are thought to be considering pooling their legal teams.  Lincolnshire Legal Services, the centralised unit which was created from six different legal departments back in April 2008, is an interesting model.  No redundancies were made or even countenanced when Lincolnshire County Council, Boston Borough Council and four district councils merged their legal squads.  Speaking of the present position, Eleanor Hoggart, assistant director of Lincolnshire Legal Services, says: “We are certainly not looking at redundancies.  Because we have been making so many savings, we are growing.”

The fate of many lawyers obviously lies in the hands of their legal heads and other superiors and, in these cases, there may not be a great deal that junior lawyers can do to affect the course of events.  “It is likely that the response to the budget will vary geographically as local authority legal teams will be subject to very different pressures,” says Katie Allen of Hays.  

But some individuals will have to have to take matters into their own hands immediately if they want their careers to flourish. “Local government lawyers should be flexible in terms of learning new areas of work,” says Judith Barnes. Those who are laid off, either from private practice or from local government, could try to get a foot on the ladder by doing locum work.  And even if they do not have experience of child care law, they could get a locum here if they are prepared to start at the bottom and work hard.  “We have more jobs than candidates,” says Wadkins of Sacco Mann.  Describing rates as “recession-proof”, she says that rates there have gone up to between £25 and £45 an hour.  

And if the worst comes to the worst and lawyers are laid off, they may not have to wait that long for a recovery in the market.  While the experts we spoke to here are unanimous in predicting a difficult 2010, they are also agreed that sheer demand for local authority legal services will force the market to improve pretty soon.  Speaking of the locum sector, for instance, Kelly Wadkins says: “Any slight downturn in the locum market is going to be short-lived.  As soon as there is a pick-up, the local authorities will have shortages again.”

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27.Jan.2010

It can be easy to feel uncomfortable in a new role or when asked to work in unfamiliar areas. Paul Gilbert outlines a ten-point plan for dealing successfully with change.

I once had a coffee with an in-house lawyer new into her first role; she was interesting and thoughtful and her conversation was engaging and full of optimism, but then she said something that made me pause for thought.

She said: “I am really uncomfortable doing new things; I always feel that I am so much out of my depth”.

As a familiar metaphor “out of my depth” is an easy to use and every day turn of phrase, but pause for a moment to reflect on these words; taken literally they carry a significant burden and are laden with discomfort.

The phrase, for me, conjures an image of flailing limbs in a hostile sea, lungs bursting with pain and a helpless surrender to a certain end. These words “out of my depth” therefore seem to indicate the sort of deep-seated and personal discomfort that would travel to the pit of one’s stomach in an instant.

Such innocuous words may be, but such horrible connotations; no wonder the newly appointed in-house lawyer was reluctant to try new things if it made her feel out of her depth.

The fear of change which she was indicating, both at an organisational level and for very many of us as individuals, is a widespread and very real phenomenon. To be good at change therefore we need more than to be able to articulate why change is potentially a good thing, we also need to plan to overcome this almost phobic reflex response to the thought of change.

In short, we need a different way of thinking, a different metaphor.

How would we feel, for example, if we were not really out of our depth at all? What if we were absolutely at the same depth we normally operate in? Would it not appear a more comfortable experience if we could be convinced of this as a new reality?

I am convinced that for most changes we make (or are forced to make), it is not the depth that has changed, but the fact that we are swimming in unfamiliar waters where the landmarks on the shoreline are different.

And if that is the case, we are not going to drown; we will be perfectly fine in fact and we will have all the skills and the experience we need to survive in our new surrounds and maybe even to thrive.

Consider this thought (and a different metaphor again) when you drive your car to a new place, to somewhere you have never been before, you can still physically drive the car – you have not forgotten how to steer or how to change gear; but you may have to concentrate a little more and you may have to prepare the way a little more thoroughly as well.

The discomfort we feel by labelling how we feel as “out of our depth” effectively elevates change from being, in my driving analogy, a need for a little more concentration as we look for somewhere to park, to a near death experience in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic. (And that is also now a mixed metaphor!)

So how should we combat this fear of change?

I would like to suggest a ten point comfort blanket. Ten points not to falsely reassure, but to put into context what most change is really about. Ten points to help us manage our own emotional response to change.

1. While all change can be described in terms of negative outcomes like more work, more disruption, unknown consequences etc, it is also true that most change can be described with positive consequences as well. Change teaches us to adapt, to see opportunity, to develop skills and so on. Change itself is a potentially a very positive experience, as Albert Einstein said: “There is nothing that is a more certain sign of insanity than to do the same thing over and over again and expect the results to be different…”
2. Change is also inevitable in any event – it is a constant in our lives and we cope every single day with any amount of it. Work priorities move, supermarkets run out of something we want, the garage is closed on the way home, the TV schedulers move the kick-off time of the football…etc. Change is not a problem for any of us, but what we are less good at is unfamiliar change.
3. Unfamiliar change takes us by surprise and often causes three responses – to flee, freeze or fight. All three responses, however, are emotional and obstructive and none of them help us deal with either the change process or the consequences of change. If they become a pattern of behaviour we will always struggle. Knowing this is the start of dealing with it differently.
4. Change is rarely destructive of itself. The fact that we may feel somewhat uncomfortable is often the necessary prerequisite for personal development and progress; while being comfortable can be, conversely, indicative of a slow decline into complacency and decay.
5. That is not to say, however that change in every instance is necessarily a good thing. Change for its own sake might well be disruptive and change must always be well planned, well communicated and well managed. Therefore we should not accept change in an unthinking way and we must preserve a reasoned opportunity to push back.
6. Sometimes, for example, we also make the mistake of evaluating the benefits of change, but ignoring the benefits of the status quo. When evaluating the impact of change, therefore, we must also evaluate the impact of the status quo. By developing our understanding of the reality of our current circumstances we can better inform the debate (for or against) change, but without the emotional, destructive response. Relevant questions are: Is the status quo rewarding, challenging and fun? Is the status quo a permanent stable state or is it too merely temporary? Do our colleagues and friends look at change in the same way as we do? If there is no consensus about the viability of the status quo what are they likely to want to change and when? Can we exert some influence over the status quo? If we can is that influence any more than the influence we can exert over change? (If we have influence, change is more likely to have positive outcomes.) Is it better to change positively and with energy or to sit tight in the equivalent of a brace crash position and hope the moment will pass?
7. Change is rarely, if ever, done to us to annoy or upset us; there is therefore precious little to be gained by arguing emotionally against change. Even if our concerns are well intentioned, an argument based on emotions will appear Luddite (or worse) and definitely not a good place to begin negotiations. So we should argue facts, argue logic and argue better alternatives. Not all change is good, but bad change occurs because we lose our perspective and create distracting and pointless arguments which are bound to fail.
8. When change is contemplated, opportunity is created too. It’s like a chemical reaction. If we seek out the opportunity and judge the benefit of the opportunity before you resist the change, many possibilities are revealed.
9. Life (as the old cliché goes) is a journey, but it should not always be a Sunday afternoon ride down a familiar lane, to the same old places. While some days like this are good, no one should want their whole life to be like it. Let the journey be a mixture of the old and the new, the fast and the slow, the risk free and, occasionally, the risky too.
10. Never again should we have the automatic response that we will be “out of our depth” with change simply because it is unfamiliar. Most likely you are swimming just fine. The shoreline a little different perhaps, but the swimmer in control, comfortable and maybe even enjoying the new views.

Of course articles like this are bound to simplify things too much and it is always easier to say these things than to actually do them. However while change is not easy and is only ever relished by a very few, it should not be so daunting. What we must always try to do is to reflect on how we will make change work for us.

The in-house lawyer with whom I shared a coffee, like all of us, has the capacity to change and to take advantage of the opportunity that change brings. Enjoy the swim.

Paul Gilbert is chief executive of LBC Wise Counsel, the specialist management and skills training consultancy for lawyers.

www.lbcwisecounsel.com

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20.Jan.2010

The march towards specialisation in the legal profession appears inexorable. But is it better to stay a generalist? Amy Bullock looks at what recent recruitment trends mean for local government lawyers considering their next job.

The discussion of whether it is better to be a specialist or a generalist is one that often comes up – and as the market continues to change so do the pros and cons of each of these career options, as the sector demands different skills and specialisms. So ultimately there is not a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer to this question. However, there are a number of considerations for legal professionals as the wider environment affects the direction your career takes.

Over the last 12 months the profession has been impacted by a number of factors (as indeed have the majority of sectors). These include the economic climate, the reorganisation of local authorities, a slump within the private practice arena and the knock-on effect of individual high profile cases – such as Baby P – leading to a catalyst for change within specific disciplines. All of these influencers demand different experience and specialism, opening up opportunities for both ‘specialist’ and ‘generalist’ legal professionals.

The reorganisation of local authorities has, for example, had a significant impact on the expertise required by the newly formed unitary authorities. Smaller district councils have traditionally required more generalist lawyers to meet the more mixed and varied demands of their client base. However, this trend has now changed with the much larger, merged organisations requiring more specialised legal professionals.

These changes have led to a number of challenges for those lawyers that are more generalist, who may be able to turn their hand to a diverse range of areas but are not necessarily an expert within a specific area. They have also placed specialists in a very strong position. But these new demands have led to local authorities suffering from significant skill gaps, and they have increasingly been turning to specialist legal recruitment agencies to recruit locums to take on specific projects and cases.

In the last year a number of key areas demanding experienced local authority specialist lawyers have also emerged, including childcare, adult care and employment. Expert lawyers in these disciplines have become the highest paid legal locum professionals in the market, earning up to £40 per hour. These lucrative hourly rates mean that there has been an increase in lawyers that are keen to work in these practice areas.

Following the Baby P case, demand for childcare specialists continually outweighs supply, as clients consistently demand previous local authority childcare experience – meaning that strong childcare lawyers are not out of work for a prolonged period of time. It is anticipated that a similar development will take place within the adult care and employment disciplines over the next year.

It is not just specialist locums that are benefiting from these opportunities either, as local authorities are increasingly taking on permanent specialists as they start to plan for the year ahead and realise that the issues they are facing are not just short-term.

This is not to say that there are no opportunities out there for more generalist legal professionals – demand across the country is still strong for experienced, high calibre multi-faceted lawyers, with good rates of pay on offer. There is also a school of thought that suggests a broader range of experience can open the way to more senior management roles.

As with any job search in the current market, you should be flexible and open to new opportunities in order to enhance your career. And if you are a generalist and looking to become more of a specialist, maybe consider looking at locum work as this will increase your experience working in new sectors and build up more specialist skills that will enhance your CV.

Regardless of whether you are generalist or specialist, it is a good idea to keep yourself up to date with changes within the sector through attending CPD seminars and training sessions. These can provide you with a solid insight into specific specialisms and potentially open up opportunities for you. A number of organisations offer these events on a regular basis – as a legal recruitment specialist we provide our candidates with a series of free CPD sessions nationwide, ensuring that we are supporting their development and providing the platform for valuable networking for our local authority lawyers.

Amy Bullock is manager of the legal division at Sellick Partnership Yorkshire.

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15.Dec.2009

Are you Facebooked? Is your face on MySpace? What about LinkedIn? Do you tweet? Have you posted a comment on a company’s website or news page? Is your online CV up to date - do you even know where it is? There are significant traps for the unwary when it comes to social networking, argue recruitment consultants at Badenoch & Clark, and it is important to manage your online presence.

The chances are that even if you’re not a regular blogger or social networker, it’ll be still possible to find something about you on the web. And if you’re looking for a new job, what’s found could make the difference between an offer and a rejection: it’s estimated that over a quarter of HR professionals have rejected an applicant on the basis of what appears on the web.

Google yourself and see what comes up. With an estimated 60% of employers doing just that, you’ll get a feel for what they may learn about you. In this article we look at how to manage your internet reputation – your ‘netrep’ – effectively.

Why your netrep is important

Netreps are all about perception, which is never more important than when you’re trying to create the right one. Whatever your name throws up on Google, be it about you or a doppelganger, will give an instant picture of your wider personality and interests. Information stays on the web for a long time, and negative publicity generally can’t be deleted from the search engines either. So, when you publish that video of you downing pints and start blogging about how you hate your job, think about the impact that might have – your employer, or next employer, is only a few clicks away.

It’s probably worth deciding if you want a netrep in the first place. If you decide to build a netrep that works to your advantage, consider what you’d like your name to be connected to. What impression of yourself you want to project. Then spend as much time managing your online reputation as you would on crafting your CV. If it all sounds like too much hassle and you’d just prefer to stay firmly offline, remember to close down your accounts from Facebook to Flickr before forsaking the online world.

Employers do look and make decisions

Whether or not an employer actively uses social media as part of their recruitment process, you can be pretty certain that you’ve been checked out online. With the current appetite for wearing our hearts on our electronic sleeves it’s not surprising that when you join an organisation your new colleagues will know much more about you already than you might be comfortable with.

Professional networks like LinkedIn and Xing should pose little problem – assuming your details are backed up by your CV and the “real” you. Your Bebo, Facebook and YouTube activity may give an employer a very different picture and there’s not much you can do once the impression is made. Employers do run some risk in vetting potential recruits via their online footprint, but as long as the decisions they make are not based on any legally discriminatory grounds – age, sex, religion and the like – then you’re going to have a tough job proving that your ill-considered remarks or pictures contributed to the nicely worded rejection letter.

And it’s not just potential employers who are checking you out. It’s highly likely that your current boss and colleagues will have done so too. And clients you are dealing with. Now, are you still sitting comfortably?

Dealing with bad netreps

Unlike tattoos, comments you’ve made online in the heat of the moment or that picture of you dancing on the bar on holiday can be cleaned up to improve your netrep. Some professional sites such as LinkedIn and Xing will let you remove comments or edit your profile accordingly – Facebook will let you remove comments you’ve made. Forums or blogs where you might have complained about customer service, for example, may not. It is often harder to remove pictures and video in which you’ve been tagged – contact the person who posted it and ask them to un-tag you or, better still, remove it altogether.

For those comments you are not able to do anything about, don’t worry, time is a great healer. The longer a web page has little or no activity, the lower down the search results it will go so older comments about less topical items will have less of an impact. Post worthwhile questions or add sensible and considered comment to discussions on your own or other people’s blogs and professional discussion groups. You’ll not only position yourself better professionally when you do come up in a search, but also push more of the outdated poorer content further down the search results. If all else fails, hire an expert who will clean up your profile for a fee.

Get positive

If you create the right perception, it can only help in opening the right doors. So consider actively cultivating a positive online presence. Decide what you want your netrep to look like, and target media that will help you achieve it.

Professional networks give you a great opportunity to demonstrate what you’ve done and how others regard you. Write helpful articles, post insightful reviews or answer someone’s burning question. By actively contributing to online forums, social and professional media networks, you can position yourself as an industry authority. But be mindful to stick to the site rules to avoid expulsion.

Consider speaking at events or getting involved with CSR initiatives also. Offline initiatives often end up getting internet coverage, and by demonstrating values that mirror your employer’s and linking to well-known influential people, you are likely to reinforce your attractiveness as an employee.

Make sure your content is appropriate

The best piece of advice is: if you wouldn’t want your mother to read or see it, don’t put it on the internet. Making sure your web content is appropriate is one of the very first steps to managing your netrep effectively. Applying common sense to censoring your views and images can mean that a flippant or angry remark does not become a black mark on your character.

Remember that not everyone shares the same values. What may seem like harmless fun to you and your friends, may cause others to see you in a different light.

Here are some simple rules to bear in mind:

• It’s easy to get carried away by the banter on social networking sites. Be careful not to be drawn into expressing extreme views that you may later regret.
• Take care when updating your status. It may well have been a difficult day, or a colleague may have upset you, but avoid making derogatory or personal comments. And constantly talking about your glee at going home time may draw into question your commitment.
• Think twice before posting embarrassing, funny or risqué photographs of yourself and/or your friends. If you wouldn’t display them on your desk, don’t display them on the web.
• Avoid posting during the working day. Many sites show the time and date of a post – a sure giveaway that you’ve wasted time at work.
• Abide by the rules. If your employer has strict rules about the use of social networking sites, then stick to them.
• Moderate your comments and feedback. Ten years ago letters of complaint to organisations were private affairs. Today, many companies have comments pages or individuals will have established sites dedicated to criticising leading brands. While you may not wish to work directly for the organisation you’re criticising, remember that it may be a customer of a future employer.

Network, network, network?

For someone who truly nurtures their relationships with contacts, social media can be the biggest referral network available. But networking online also has an impact on your netrep – particularly recommendations. It’s important that you manage any online recommendations effectively. Remember how important it is to decide on your references – online recommendations are no difference.

Below are a few guidelines to follow:

• Remember that asking for or getting recommendations is normally a sign that you’re looking for work – this means that any current colleagues that are on your network will know that you’re on the market. Do you really want people asking those questions yet? One suggestion is to ask a manager or contact at the completion of a specific project you’ve worked on – that way they’re providing a recommendation based on a particular piece of work you’ve completed and not necessarily asking for recommendations at the time of sending your CV to recruiters.
• Think about whom you ask for recommendations – both their position and how many people you ask are important. As with anything, more doesn’t necessarily mean better! People looking at your profile will look at not only what has been written about you, but by whom. Who should you approach for a recommendation? Senior management who clearly have a link to the role you did; clients that were in a senior or decision-making role; employees who worked for you if you’re in a management role. Avoid asking work colleagues that you shared drinks with on Friday evenings – it will be evident from their own position or what they’ve got to say about you.
• As with references, a recommendation is as much about what isn’t said as what is said. Think very carefully about asking people to make a recommendation – if you ask someone who isn’t in a position to give you a glowing recommendation, they may use words or terms that at first glance appear fine, but in effect make evident areas that you may be lacking in. For example – “Jamie is enthusiastic about any new project” – may suggest to some readers that Jamie isn’t a completer.

And don’t be offended if people decline your request for a recommendation. Just as this offers advice on how to manage your netrep, even those you approach for a recommendation may be concerned about their own netrep. A recommendation for you remains in the public domain for life.

Access limits have their limits

So you’ve done what you can to protect your own reputation; you’ve commented in a professional manner and where it is most appropriate; managed your “fun” profile so that only friends can see it; restricted your rants and raves to only those closest to you or, where you’ve unwittingly gone off the boil online, you’ve done it anonymously. But is it enough?

Sadly, the answer is no. Even though you may have been a digital saint and limited whom you network with and how you network with them, this doesn’t make you bullet proof.

The nature of social networks is such that the conversations you are having with friends and the pictures that are for their eyes only, are not necessarily going to stay that way. There is always the threat you will be found through your friends; your friends’ friends; your friends’ friends’ friends – you get the picture.

However, by following a few simple rules you can limit the damage done:

• Employ the strictest privacy settings and set the highest levels of security. This is no guarantee but there’s no point in making it easy.
• Remove any personal information, pictures or references you’d rather employers didn’t see. It’s obvious but the best way to start.
• Ask your friends and colleagues to remove any damaging or disparaging statements, pictures or comments that feature you. This limits the damage done by your extended network.
• Keep up to date with what is being said about you and act accordingly. It’s not about ego, but knowing where to go.

This article was written by recruitment consultancy Badenoch & Clark.

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15.Dec.2009

Following the Baby Peter case, childcare specialists have become the most sought-after of local government lawyers. Grania Langdon-Down looks at the qualities that make a good lawyer in this area and how councils are ensuring they have the right team in place.

Local authority demand for experienced childcare lawyers has rocketed after the death of Baby Peter to such an extent that they have become the highest paid legal locum professionals in the market, earning up to £40 an hour.

Rachael Armstrong, manager of recruitment agency Sellick Partnership Legal, says they have seen a 60% rise in childcare-related positions across the UK over the last 15 months.

“The tragic Baby Peter incident, in particular, has had a significant impact on this demand, as local authorities have reacted quickly to address criticism,” she says. “The demand for childcare specialists continually outweighs the supply, as clients consistently demand previous local authority childcare experience – meaning that strong childcare lawyers are not out of work for a prolonged period of time.”

However, Armstrong continues, due to the stressful and highly emotional nature of the role, the majority of lawyers only work in this area for a couple of years before moving into another specialism.

Put these trends together, she says and this has led to childcare lawyers becoming the highest paid legal locum professionals in the market, earning up to £40 per hour. “These lucrative hourly rates mean that there has been an increase in lawyers that are keen to work in childcare,” she says, adding: “We have also seen in recent months locums being offered permanent positions as local authorities start to plan for the year ahead and realise that this is not a short term issue.”

Stuart Burrows, senior manager of recruiters Badenoch & Clark, has meanwhile seen demand more than double in social services, particularly relating to childcare, as a result of Baby Peter. “Legal care proceedings have risen nearly a third following the convictions for his neglect last year. In the North in particular, we have seen a six-fold increase in locum positions compared to this time last year.”

Burrows says the top rate tends to be paid to the very best people, or to pay someone “to go and work in an awkward location when the authority simply cannot get anyone”.

A more typical rate is in the £30’s, he says. “However, the increase in rates has meant that many temporary lawyers are getting paid significantly more than their permanent counterparts, which is attracting more solicitors to consider locum work.”

The right skillset

So what are local authorities looking for in their childcare lawyers?

Armstrong says: “Traditionally, a number of local authority childcare lawyers were Antipodeans, working without an English practising certificate. Following Baby Peter, a number of councils now refuse to employ Australian and New Zealand legal professionals, unless they have undertaken their QLTT, which is having an impact on the supply of childcare lawyers. Additionally, some private practice professionals have transferred to local authorities due to lack of work and job cuts, but the specifications of the local authority obviously determine how easy it is for them to secure a position.”

“What is making things trickier,” says Burrows, “is that clients are understandably insisting on a working knowledge of the Public Law Outline (PLO). This means that, whereas previously they may have taken on people who have been out for a couple of years, for instance on maternity leave, or from another jurisdiction with childcare experience, this is no longer the case.”

However, the lack of available candidates means councils are having to look at alternative recruitment options, such as re-training former childcare lawyers and recruiting family lawyers with relevant public law experience from private practice. Councils have also been taking on higher volumes of support staff, legal assistants and paralegals, to assist and give extra support to their busy childcare teams.

Still under intense pressure

While social workers were the main focus for criticism in the press over Baby Peter and other child protection cases, legal departments have not come out unscathed, Burrows says, particularly for the limited supervision of locums.

However, he warns that, without extra funding for more lawyers to cope with the increase in work, the pressure on locums will continue to mount. The question then is whether the pressure will put lawyers off entering this field or whether departments will create a more productive environment in which to work.

“From speaking to a number of heads of department, who manage the legal social services teams, the key seems to be the support that is offered to the lawyers,” he explains. “Some of the authorities have a good management structure to support junior lawyers, so that they do not feel isolated, and have assistance in some of the more complex matters they are dealing with. Unfortunately this is not the case in all authorities, and so some lawyers are burning out and looking to move to less stressful areas of the law.”

Making the best use of locums

So how are heads of legal teams coping and what are the pros and cons of using locums?

Uma Mehta is chief lawyer at the London Borough of Islington and chair of the Law Society”s children law sub-committee. “All local authorities are short of good child care lawyers because the work has increased while funding has decreased. There are a huge number of locum vacancies nationally and good ones are hard to find.”

She has five agency staff helping her team of eight childcare specialists. “Locums have to be properly supervised which puts extra pressure on managers. The pros are you can personally hand select the people who want working with you as part of your team. If you treat them well, with respect and dignity, they will learn your ways of working. At Islington, we pay for their training, which is rare.

“However, the downside is they can leave at any time with two weeks’ notice – Antipodean lawyers, in particular, love travelling – which means there is no continuity in cases.”

Retaining permanent staff is equally vital. Mehta is keen to encourage new opportunities for her team to keep them motivated. She has encouraged four of her lawyers to get their higher rights of audience to form an in-house advocacy team, which has the added bonus of reducing external counsel fees.

Ann Molloy is Assistant City Solicitor at Liverpool City Council, responsible for the children, families and education legal department. She has 19 lawyers in her team but only four or five specialising in child protection work.

She recently advertised for another post. “I hate doing it because the council is strapped for cash so I know another area, such as litigation, now won’t get their post filled.”

Molloy says she wants “someone who can hit the ground running with about three years’ experience and, hopefully, on the Children Panel. Several of the applicants are from private practice because it is bad out there for them and, although local authority work is hard, we have good terms and conditions of employment.”

She uses locums to cover maternity leave, but warns that it can be “a nightmare”, adding that “you never know if you are going to get a decent one – I have had some which have been awful”.

Committed to the cause

So, what makes a good childcare lawyer?

Graham Cole is principal solicitor for social services at Luton Borough Council and chair of the Solicitors in Local Government’s child care lawyers group. “You need a good knowledge of childcare care law and child protection practice,” he says. “You also need a good understanding of abuse and neglect and the reasons behind them, as well as how social workers work. You have to be robust and clear-sighted, patient and compassionate.”

Add to that good communication skills, he says. “It is no good sitting in your bunker. You need to understand what is happening with other people in the system and build trusting relationships with police, teachers, doctors, social workers - but that requires people to stay around long enough for that to develop.”

Given the pressures, why would someone choose this area of work?

Molloy was working in crime and family in private practice in the late 70s.  “It was a man’s world so I decided to move into local authority work – everyone thought I was insane. I have been tempted at times to move but this work is so worthwhile. There is something different about every case so, while the work is hard, it is rewarding.

“It’s also nice being on the side of the angels – I would hate to be on the other side representing parents who are never going to make it, who will always be alcoholics or drug addicts and I wouldn’t want it on my conscience if a child went back to them.”

For Cole, the work is “challenging but it is also rewarding because you know you are doing something of benefit.

“People always say to me ‘I don’t know how you do your job’. You do have to develop an emotional detachment but the day you say you aren’t affected by the work is the day you should stop.”

Grania Langdon-Down is a freelance journalist.

Details

24.Nov.2009

There is no longer the stigma that once attached to redundancy. However, lawyers who have been made redundant need to plan how they are going to find their next role, writes Amy Bullock.

Over the last 12 months, ‘redundancy’ is a word that we have heard all too regularly in the workplace, amongst friends and in the media. Across the country, lawyers of all experience levels have been hit by the slowdown in work and budget cuts.

And with the unpredictable economic climate still grasping the country and the potential challenges of a general election taking place in the New Year – it is anticipated that we could see this trend continue.

So what does this mean for lawyers that have been hit by redundancy?

The perceptions of redundancy have changed compared to previous years, and as it has become more commonplace employers are increasingly empathetic to those that have found themselves in this position. Redundancy is no longer associated with individuals that are underperforming in their jobs, or a reflection of your skills and capabilities. It purely means that your job or role is no longer required by a business or organisation for whatever reason, whether that is an office closure or outsourcing of work.

From a recruitment perspective, we have not seen any stigma linked with redundancy, and there is no evidence that it hindered lawyers from securing a new opportunity, tarred their reputation or their ability to progress in their career.

But rather than contemplating the ‘whys and wherefores’  - let’s look to the future and how to best deal with the situation that you have unfortunately found yourself in.

Before cutting all ties with your ex-employer, depending on the circumstances, it is advised that you take the initiative to secure a letter or acknowledgement from them outlining the situation and background behind your redundancy e.g. office closure. This will provide you with a bit more confidence when taking that next step to securing a new opportunity – and support your CV when applying for roles.

The first steps

From the outset it is important that you are honest and upfront about your redundancy when embarking on your job search whether it be on your CV or in an interview. You should not be afraid at any point of disclosing your current situation to a prospective employer.

Following redundancy, few lawyers have been lucky enough to secure a new position straight away – so it is important to consider how you are going to make yourself more employable, continually up to date with legal developments, and enhance your CV in the process. If you have been in the same job for a number of years, it is unlikely that your CV is current – so now is the perfect time to reassess your career plan and review your experience.

The job market is very unpredictable – so you need to be flexible in your job search. For example, very specialist legal professionals have struggled to secure a new role, due to the fact that their experience and knowledge is so niche – this may be more relevant to those private practice lawyers that are keen to move into the public sector. However, regardless of your specialism, it is recommended that you develop your transferable skills – enabling you to enhance your CV.

There are a number of ways in which you can do this. There are, for example, a number of not-for-profit organisations across the country that are crying out for legal skills – which would provide you with a great opportunity to keep you busy, give something back and gain experience in other areas. One initiative includes LawWorks Choices, a new project for unemployed lawyers. It gives you the chance to give pro bono advice to individuals and not-for-profit groups, to carry on practising and massively improve your employment prospects.

The legal sector moves at a very fast and fluid pace, so staying on top of developments is vital. It could really make a difference to you when looking for a new job; an employer will want to know that you are proactive, focused and ‘on the ball’.

Attending courses and seminars provides you with a strong platform to maintain and upgrade and develop your skills. Plus they don’t necessarily have to cost you money – a number of recruitment agencies hold them for free throughout the year as part of their commitment to you and your career. It is definitely worth keeping in touch with your consultant to keep abreast of their events calendar for the year.

The plan

Looking for a new job can be a time consuming process, so it is advisable that you plan how you are going to go about it, ensuring that you encompass all of the different channels available including online, social media, traditional networking, recruitment consultants, trade and national press. It is likely that your discipline or specialism will impact the channel that is most applicable to you – but it is a good idea to widen your goal posts so not to limit your options.

With the market continuously changing, the opportunities and requirements of employers is also changing – for example, the number of locum roles has increased as they provide the employer with increased flexibility, and access to lawyers with specific skill sets. It may be worth considering the locum route for the short term, as it enables you to keep your CV up to date, enhance your skill base and experience different working environments – as well as providing you with flexibility. A specialist legal recruiter would be able to provide you with further information about the opportunities available and factors to consider.

Networking should play a key role in your job search, whether it is via social media such as LinkedIn or through professional networking bodies. It is a really effective channel to facilitate the opening up of new opportunities. It is surprising how many positions are secured through referrals and word of mouth – so use your contacts to get your name out there.

The fact that you have been made redundant should not impact any stage in this process. Prospective employers will appreciate and acknowledge your honesty. And the more proactive that you are, the more attractive you will be to an employer.

Lastly, when you are successful and secure your next role it may be advisable to be astute when negotiating a new contract of employment, as it is the best time to put measures in place for the future.

Amy Bullock is manager of the legal division at Sellick Partnership Yorkshire