Large salaries fail to satisfy firms' ambitious associates

Paying associates more money may attract them to firms but it will not make them stay, delegates at the conference were told.According to figures produced by human resource management firm Spherion, 36% of 383 law firm associates surveyed said they were looking to change jobs within 12 months and 27% were looking to move within two years.

Similar figures were found among in-house counsel.Lack of career development opportunities, training and development, poor relationships with immediate supervisors and a lack of mentoring programmes were all shown to quadruple the likelihood of an associate leaving a firm.Spherion president Greg Mazares warned the session on associate retention that the cost of attorney turnover directly hit firms' 'bottom line'.

With recruitment, basic training, easing in time of new staff and easing out time for leavers, estimates put the cost of associate turnover at a minimum of $150,000, he said.Mr Mazares added that the impact of high turnover rates among associates could also hit firms' ability to take on work and forced partners to work harder.

'The number one reason why attorneys leave firms is because of poor management skills and attitude,' he added.According to Mr Mazares, firms wishing to improve their retention rates should each appoint a designated retention partner and allocate him or her an appropriate budget.

Sue Allen