It feels a long time ago since the Clementi review, but now the legal regulators have given tangible recognition that the best people to lead law practices might not be pedantic professional arguers. The pool of talent for leaders has been broadened so that there is less emphasis on partners having to come from within the profession. This sounds like good news for L&D practitioners within the legal sector.
To recap, now solicitors are permitted to go into partnership with barristers and licensed conveyancers, as well as up to 25 per cent of non-lawyer partners, through Legal Disciplinary Practices (LDPs). The emergence of LDPs gives some rays of hope to L&D practitioners within law firms:
• By recognising that people with non-lawyer skillsets merit the status of partnership, it increases the long term career potential and earning power of L&D practitioners.
• By decreasing the pre-eminence of legal knowhow, L&D practitioners can focus more on providing learning in the other people-related competencies, which they will typically feel more at home with.
• Law firm cultures will gradually move so that the gap in status between lawyers and non-fee earners reduces.
During the recession these rays of hope look pretty dark as other operational priorities will dominate, but once the economy upturns, these opportunities will be greater. Then the shrewdest L&D practitioners will be refreshing their career plans and business cases for partnership.
