Resistance is futile

Last week was National Apprenticeship Week. Although apprenticeships have traditionally been associated with vocational trades, there is an ever-growing number of legal apprentices across the country.

Apprenticeships provide an alternative route to qualification as a paralegal practitioner or chartered legal executive and, in an environment that is as volatile as the legal profession is right now, it might not be surprising that more and more firms are investigating ways to adapt to change. For school leavers, the opportunity to join a profession without the cost of a university education is also increasingly attractive.

You may be inclined to presume that apprenticeships are the reserve of smaller firms that would otherwise be unable to provide training to aspiring lawyers, but the reality is quite different. Regional firms, such as Bevan Brittan – which announced this week that it will commence apprenticeships across its offices from September – as well as international practices including DAC Beachcroft and Clyde & Co, local authorities, and even the BBC are all investing in apprentices (Jeremy Clarkson need not apply).

Change isn’t only afoot in the sector’s recruitment policies. The need for flexibility and accessibility in the services we provide and the way we provide them will be essential in the next decade. I listened to Sir Michael Pitt, chairman of the Legal Services Board, speak at the Modern Law Conference concerning this very issue.

Acknowledging that too many are deciding to solve their legal problems alone and reviving the concept of ‘self lawyering’ introduced last year, Sir Michael declared that there were lost opportunities for consumers of legal services and placed the collective responsibility with the wider profession. The move to cut lawyers out means that we are at risk of being undermined and undercut by unregulated advisers or that the typical users of legal services are going through legal processes blind, unsupported or unaware of the risks.

In an attempt to combat this, Sir Michael set out the LSB’s plans for the coming months, including a number of research projects across the legal consumer landscape. These will include a study in attitudes towards the costs of legal services and ‘value for money’.

Meanwhile, another study will follow the experience of 180 couples petitioning for divorce. According to the LSB, online divorces are significantly more likely to be amicable than using a lawyer, with 83 per cent receiving the decree nisi within eight weeks (as opposed to 63 per cent when engaging a ‘face to face’ lawyer). Incredibly, only 38 per cent of those engaging a divorce lawyer in the traditional way would recommend them to others. Whatever outcomes the research delivers, we can already be sure that the needs of the consumer are changing and it is the profession that is slow to react. This will leave space for those who are ready to innovate.

With eleven regulators under the LSB’s charge and a consumer market that is more motivated and well-informed that ever before, managing the non-regulated as well as the regulated sector will undoubtedly create some difficulty. We will each need to be open to inevitable change and, if we can learn anything from 70s sci-fi films, resistance is futile.

Kevin Poulter, editor at large #SJPOULTER | editorial@solicitorsjournal.co.uk