Recruitment and retention of Scottish lawyers

29 February 2008

A research project to explore the recruitment and retention patterns of lawyers is now underway.  Almost 1,000 solicitors from throughout the profession will be invited to participate in the research.

The research is being jointly managed by the Scottish Legal Aid Board, the Scottish Government and the Law Society of Scotland.  The work demonstrates their shared commitment to monitor current and future trends in recruitment and retention of solicitors. 

The key driver for the research are the predicted difficulties in the future supply of practitioners in some legal markets - including legal aid - and the provision of lawyers in rural areas of Scotland.  This will help inform about any broader access to justice issue linked to the recruitment and retention of lawyers, if there are problems supplying enough lawyers to meet demand.
 
The research aims to explore the views of solicitors individually and as the employer at law firms and the other workplaces in the private and public sectors where lawyers are employed.   The research will gather views about solicitor’s own career choices, and experiences of recruiting, training and retaining lawyers.  Solicitors at different stages of their careers will be interviewed, including trainees, assistants and experienced solicitors.  Views will also be sought from academics within the Law Schools at Scottish universities.

Solicitors from all parts of the profession will be invited to participate.  The research will include legal firms who do civil and criminal work, as well as those who undertake legal aid work to enable exploration of any particular legal aid issues.  .Different sizes of workplaces will be included from across a spread of urban and rural locations.  The research will also include those working in specific areas of the law where particular concerns regarding supply/ access have been suggested.

The independent research company Ipsos MORI have been commissioned to carry out the research.  The research is being undertaken in two stages.  The first stage in February will be with a small group of trainees, lawyers and those involved in recruitment.  This will help inform the second stage of research, which will take place in March and will include interviews with a much larger group of around 900 solicitors.  The results of the research are expected to be published in the summer.

For those solicitors asked to participate – and their employer – it would be greatly appreciated if you could give up some of your valuable time to take part.  Your views will provide an invaluable insight into employment trends within the profession, making a significant contribution to future development.

More information

For further information on the research work, contact Clare Duffy at the Scottish Legal Aid Board on tel 0131 240 1888 or email her.

This section of the Board's website will be updated with information on the research.