When people cease liking their jobs — and there is the prospect of another, better job elsewhere — they leave. And that is what has been happening at scores of large law firms. Young lawyers have been leaving in droves.

Getting hold of exact details is not easy. Understandably, individual firms are reluctant to talk about their figures. Nonetheless, just how serious the problem is was revealed by the most recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) annual law firm survey. This announced that “staff turnover levels are high, averaging 20 per cent for some top 25 firms. The turnover is highest in London and in the 3 to 5 years’ postqualification experience [pqe] category. There are undoubtedly work-life balance issues here.”

Analyse the details of the survey and the findings are revealing — maybe even shocking. For example, at the three to five years’ pqe stage almost half the top 25 firms had a turnover of between 16 and 20 per cent. More spectacularly, at almost one in five firms the turnover rate was more than 30 per cent. Even among the one to three-year pqe lawyers the turnover was between 26 and 30 per cent at a quarter of firms.

The indications are that turnover tends to be highest where younger lawyers have fewer flexible benefits and where maternity and childcare rights are stripped down to the minimum. As to sabbaticals? Forget it.

“The lack of flexibility in terms of both benefits and work arrangements has, perhaps, contributed towards firms suffering from high staff turnover,” PWC commented, adding archly that “they may need to give further consideration to the value that employees put on flexibility in the workplace”.

It was anxieties about the scale of departures from firms that prompted in part the Law Society to undertake its Quality of Life investigation (lawsociety.org.uk/newsandevents/ news/majorcampaigns/view). As it said when the programme was announced: “The Law Society has launched a project on staff retention and job satisfaction aiming to drive forward the thinking on this subject through research and a sharing of experience. We’ll cover issues such as the working practices that affect employees’ decisions to stay or move on, the extent to which firms should adapt to fit with employees’ life choices and the impact on the firms and employees that decide to adopt different working practices.” In defence of the employers, the society went on to claim that firms are starting to “address urgently” issues of staff retention — not least because it is vital to their growth, innovation and competitiveness. “Retaining staff and recruiting at mid-career level are becoming increasingly difficult. The pool of high-quality talent is not growing. In the services sector, businesses rely on the quality of their people. Turnover costs are around £150,000 for every £50,000 of salary.”

While some staff turnover is inevitable, there is clearly an emerging consensus that it has reached a worryingly high level. Firms are losing not merely the also-rans but, potentially, very able people in whom they have invested heavily.

Robert Sully, who works for Cripps Harries Hall in Tunbridge Wells, is typical of those who got away. He comes across as very bright, articulate, able and ambitious. Yet after six years of hard toil he left a well-known City name almost entirely because of work-life balance reasons. “There was a macho atmosphere that came from the partners,” he says. “I was doing well in the firm and that, maybe, was my downfall. I was staying very late night after night and the partners’ attitude was, ‘So, what’s the problem?’ Personally I can’t see how it’s a good thing to have tired young lawyers working on a deal, but that was the general atmosphere. It’s not so much the policies within the firms that matter but their culture.”

With a child on the way Sully decided that the time had come to leave the City but build on his experience in a positive way. He now works reasonable hours, lives five minutes from the office and does jobs that are comparable to his previous City life. “The difference is,” he says, “that if you are still working here at 9 o’clock at night people ask what’s the matter with you.”

What young lawyers really want

A work-life balance

A more meaningful and responsible job

Respect for productivity rather than long hours

Clarity over roles and advancement

Removal of the stigma attached to flexible working hours

Mentoring and career development

Professional knowledge and soft skills development, practical help and development

Career breaks and returner integration

Connection with the community or society

Active, effective equality and diversity policies

Respect for individual strengths

More visibility earlier, recognising contribution and client engagement

Source: The Law Society

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