Beyond training, Singapore's legal industry needs a culture shift to curb attrition
The Junior Lawyers Certification Programme (JLP) by the Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) aims to help young lawyers stay ahead of the artificial intelligence (AI) curve, while also strengthening basic legal skills.
Launched on May 21, the programme targets lawyers with five and fewer years of post-qualification experience.
Yet, as SAL chief executive Yeong Zee Kin told The Business Times in an interview, the JLP focuses on skills and knowledge acquisition, while many young lawyers cite the demanding nature of legal practice as reason for leaving the industry.
Said Yeong: 'The JLP can address one aspect, which is training, and hopefully also a nurturing environment in the office that supports training.
'But it won't address the workplace pressures, because clients are in competitive global markets and (local law firms) need to compete with foreign law firms for the same kind of work.'
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Some in this cohort have expressed disappointment via social media. Their beef is that the programme focuses on technical skills and not solutions to address such workplace pressures.
Excessive workload, poor work-life balance, and negative work culture were reasons cited by young lawyers for leaving legal practice, according to a survey of post-call lawyers this year.
It found that 60 per cent of respondents were likely to move out of legal practice within the next five years, to pursue an in-house career, academia or employment with other legal service providers.
Slightly more than a third of the new lawyers said they are likely to leave the legal profession altogether.
The reasons for such departures are cultural factors which training cannot address.
Disruption
To be sure, there is no denying that generative AI will disrupt the legal industry, and lawyers must prepare for that.
As Yeong explained, the widespread accessibility of AI tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot means that clients can easily generate basic contracts and seek advice on legal strategies.
A programme that informs lawyers of the developments and ethics of AI is thus necessary and important.
Further, lawyers in smaller firms – which may have fewer resources for training – can also benefit from a structured programme that hones basic advocacy and drafting skills.
One must also acknowledge that the legal industry is a challenging one.
Singapore law firms face an increasingly competitive global market, and are up against international firms with significant resources.
As a service industry, firms also face rising expectations from clients for better, faster and cheaper solutions.
But training alone is not enough to incentivise young lawyers to stick it out in legal practice, if the more pressing push factors are not addressed.
To meaningfully address attrition, the legal industry must make headway in addressing the cultural and environmental reasons pushing young lawyers away.
In the long run, law firms will not be able to compete if they lack a healthy pool of new talent to refresh their ranks. It is thus in their interest to address these issues, as a dwindling workforce will hit them hardest.
For instance, young lawyers have called for better protection against bullying and exploitation.
Hence, it is a good start to see the SAL convening a legal profession symposium in July to discuss some of these issues.
Spearheading change
Still, to be fair to the SAL, as a promotion and development agency, it cannot prescribe how law firms develop and mentor their associates. It is for the senior lawyers to lead the change in the culture at their firms.
As Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said at the JLP opening conference, any solution to address the sustainability of legal practice is unlikely to be effective unless the mindsets of both young and older lawyers change.
On one hand, young lawyers must appreciate that a legal career is demanding and requires long-term commitment.
Meanwhile, senior lawyers 'have a duty and a responsibility to impart their knowledge and experience to their juniors'.
'Indeed, much of a young lawyer's development comes through mentors and seniors who maintain a personal interest in their welfare and who invest the time and the effort to guide and support them in their work,' he added.
In this regard, in addition to catering programmes for young associates, there can be initiatives to engage older lawyers on these issues and on how to cultivate better workplace practices.
After all, if the legal fraternity is serious about keeping young lawyers from leaving the profession, then it is key for the law firms and their leaders to lead the cultural change.
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