For generations, law firms have been recruiting top students straight from school, with the goal of grooming them to someday become partners.
While that’s still the objective for firms, some students have a different plan.
A partnership is no longer considered the brass ring for many millennials. Instead, they see a position at a law firm as a launching pad to a more varied long-term career.
“It’s a different marketplace,” says Craig Lockwood, a partner in the Toronto office of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Toronto and chair of its student committee.
“The era of everyone coming into Bay Street law thinking their career trajectory is to be a partner in 10 years is no longer applicable. We’re seeing a lot of students coming in, starting on Bay Street, but having no long-term vision of staying there. They have a diversity of interests.”
The change in career path has many firms, like Osler, rethinking how they attract and retain the next generation of lawyers. Forget perks such as ping-pong tables, stocked bars and promises of work-life balance, which are used to lure millennials in some sectors. Today’s promising lawyers are looking for a better working experience, including access to big cases and ongoing training, development and mentorship.
“Training has taken on a different focus,” says Lockwood. “It’s no longer exclusively oriented towards life at Osler, it’s life in the profession of law.”
Osler has adjusted its professional development initiatives to better reflect what millennials want. That includes broader-based training programs to cover various skills, practice areas and professional topics.
Students are also seeking more practical on-the-job experience from the day they walk in the door.
“They really want to get their hands dirty early on,” Lockwood remarks. “We put them on real files with [the firm’s] clients, so they can actually be contributing members from the beginning.”
The ability to work on big cases was part of what attracted Lauren Hulme to Osler as a summer student in 2011. She also wanted a firm with a range of practice areas.
“It mattered to me to try to get at a firm that had access to big Canadian and international clients and that was doing big deals,” says Hulme, who is now a third-year associate with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and securities, and corporate governance.
Hulme completed her articling in 2012‒2013, during which time she was seconded to Osler’s New York office. At the firm so far, she has worked on major files such as Target Canada and the merger of Tim Hortons and Burger King.
Hulme says work-life balance wasn’t something she sought in her job hunt, nor does it fit the ambitious nature of many law students she has come across.
“You’re hungry, you’ve been in school for a long time, and you feel very grateful and excited to get this job that is very coveted and hard to get. You want to work hard,” Hulme says.
What’s more, she says, “the more you work, the more you learn and the better lawyer you become.”
Osler also offers students access to an in-house career development officer and various mentorship programs. That includes a “tag-along” program, where students are partnered with senior leaders, and get a taste for the profession at the top.
“We do our best to try to give them a sense not of what it’s going to be like as a second- or third-year associate, but what their career trajectory would be long term,” Lockwood says.
“That perspective is hugely important to them, not just in terms of assessing firms, but also assessing a professional partnership,” he says.
Recruiting the top tier of students and keeping them fully engaged is only part of the challenge for law firms, says Frances Mahil, Director, Associate & Student Programs at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP in Toronto.
“We know our job isn’t done once we’ve hired them. The issue is how to retain them and keep them intellectually challenged and motivated,” says Mahil. “You need to invest in their development.”
That includes giving them “meaningful work” and plenty of hands-on experience, but it also means offering the latest technology the digital-savvy generation has become accustomed to.
Mahil says it amounts to helping young lawyers build their brand.
“You need to keep them stimulated because they have options,” Mahil says.
While that’s still the objective for firms, some students have a different plan.
A partnership is no longer considered the brass ring for many millennials. Instead, they see a position at a law firm as a launching pad to a more varied long-term career.
“It’s a different marketplace,” says Craig Lockwood, a partner in the Toronto office of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Toronto and chair of its student committee.
“The era of everyone coming into Bay Street law thinking their career trajectory is to be a partner in 10 years is no longer applicable. We’re seeing a lot of students coming in, starting on Bay Street, but having no long-term vision of staying there. They have a diversity of interests.”
The change in career path has many firms, like Osler, rethinking how they attract and retain the next generation of lawyers. Forget perks such as ping-pong tables, stocked bars and promises of work-life balance, which are used to lure millennials in some sectors. Today’s promising lawyers are looking for a better working experience, including access to big cases and ongoing training, development and mentorship.
“Training has taken on a different focus,” says Lockwood. “It’s no longer exclusively oriented towards life at Osler, it’s life in the profession of law.”
Osler has adjusted its professional development initiatives to better reflect what millennials want. That includes broader-based training programs to cover various skills, practice areas and professional topics.
Students are also seeking more practical on-the-job experience from the day they walk in the door.
“They really want to get their hands dirty early on,” Lockwood remarks. “We put them on real files with [the firm’s] clients, so they can actually be contributing members from the beginning.”
The ability to work on big cases was part of what attracted Lauren Hulme to Osler as a summer student in 2011. She also wanted a firm with a range of practice areas.
“It mattered to me to try to get at a firm that had access to big Canadian and international clients and that was doing big deals,” says Hulme, who is now a third-year associate with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and securities, and corporate governance.
Hulme completed her articling in 2012‒2013, during which time she was seconded to Osler’s New York office. At the firm so far, she has worked on major files such as Target Canada and the merger of Tim Hortons and Burger King.
Hulme says work-life balance wasn’t something she sought in her job hunt, nor does it fit the ambitious nature of many law students she has come across.
“You’re hungry, you’ve been in school for a long time, and you feel very grateful and excited to get this job that is very coveted and hard to get. You want to work hard,” Hulme says.
What’s more, she says, “the more you work, the more you learn and the better lawyer you become.”
Osler also offers students access to an in-house career development officer and various mentorship programs. That includes a “tag-along” program, where students are partnered with senior leaders, and get a taste for the profession at the top.
“We do our best to try to give them a sense not of what it’s going to be like as a second- or third-year associate, but what their career trajectory would be long term,” Lockwood says.
“That perspective is hugely important to them, not just in terms of assessing firms, but also assessing a professional partnership,” he says.
Recruiting the top tier of students and keeping them fully engaged is only part of the challenge for law firms, says Frances Mahil, Director, Associate & Student Programs at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP in Toronto.
“We know our job isn’t done once we’ve hired them. The issue is how to retain them and keep them intellectually challenged and motivated,” says Mahil. “You need to invest in their development.”
That includes giving them “meaningful work” and plenty of hands-on experience, but it also means offering the latest technology the digital-savvy generation has become accustomed to.
Mahil says it amounts to helping young lawyers build their brand.
“You need to keep them stimulated because they have options,” Mahil says.
