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According to the Bellwether 2022 report from ������Ƶ, the majority of smaller legal practices are actively recruiting new legal staff. Two thirds of the 345 small law and solo legal professionals we surveyed said they have recently invested in, or shortly plan to invest in, more lawyers.

But attracting and retaining new legal talent can be challenging, particularly for smaller firms which may struggle to match the salaries offered by Big Law. So how can smaller practices compete with their larger rivals to obtain the cream of the crop?

The challenges small law firms face in competing for talent

Only around half of the firms we asked said they were “somewhat confident” about competing for talent over the next 24 months, with almost one in five expressing doubts about finding the right lawyers.

The challenge seems to be particularly acute in relation to attracting recently qualified lawyers, with one respondent providing the following analysis:

“The problem that we’re seeing and I think that most firms like us are seeing locally and nationally is a lack of people in that sort of two to five to ten year qualified bracket. We’re good at training our own people, but then we get bigger firms coming in and swooping on your well-trained people, offering them considerably more money and whisking them away.

Just 5% of firms we asked said they were “extremely confident” about obtaining the desired recruits in the current climate, and high salary expectations were frequently cited as the biggest stumbling block.

Law firms may benefit from reassessing the requirements from new members of staff. For example, although younger talent may lack hands-on legal experience, this can be offset by the advantage they bring in terms of tech savvy. One respondent to our survey noted that:

“There are some fabulous younger people coming through and a lot of them have new skills as well, which are helping older people in firms embrace technology and helping firms grow.”

But once the merits of any attributes of new recruits have been fully assessed, how can small firms ensure they don’t lose them to larger rivals?

Since the higher pay offered by large firms is one of the key issues, and smaller firms often have tight budgets, other benefits should be promoted as key elements of the overall remuneration package. One of the first main steps in achieving a solution is to understand some of the most important criteria for lawyers in choosing a new employer.

According to our survey, the most important aspect for lawyers when looking for a new role is the work-life balance. Although traditionally this means the ability to work flexibly and remotely, following the pandemic many younger lawyers may actually value a vibrant office more highly, with the ability to socialise and learn from more senior staff in person rather than over Zoom.

The reputation of the firm is the second most important factor - but the meaning of “reputation” is quite subjective. For example, only 1% of respondents ranked diversity and inclusion as the most important factor and only 2% ranked climate change policies as crucial.

63% of respondents said they would like to spend more of their working time on client work (with the implication being less time spent on admin), whilst around a third would like to learn new skills.

This rather mixed bag of results means that firms should consider catering to the subjective needs and desires of individual recruits. For example, rather than assuming everyone will sacrifice a higher salary if home working is standard, an office should be retained for younger members of staff.

Take a look at our Bellwether 2022 report to find out more about how small firms can help to attract new talent.