Solicitors call on Society for counselling as middle-aged practitioners get the axe

Solicitors at large corporate law firms face the axe in their early to mid-50s, according to a leading Birmingham lawyer who joined in calling on the Law Society to provide career counselling for middle-aged practitioners.John James, the director of the College of Law's recently launched Birmingham branch, told delegates that the major corporate firms were increasingly adopting the approach used by industry.

'By the time you hit 50 you will either be burnt out or kicked out.

That's a fact of life in the business world outside the law and it is becoming a fact of life within the law.

I tell young solicitors to start preparing for the next job now.'His comments came in a session where Society president David McIntosh expressed concern over the 'long-hours culture' operating at many major corporate practices in the City.

Mr McIntosh said he was 'appalled any firm would ask their young lawyers to work 12 or 14 hours a day.

What good are those last four hours and who would pay for them?'Mr James, who was a partner at Birmingham-based Edge Ellison before it merged with Hammond Suddards, and who is a former chief executive of Birmingham Forward, said middle-aged lawyers often had to share the blame for being eased out of their firms.

'People get chucked out at 55 because they don't have the commercial sense to make the right decisions.

It is a blow to their egos when the firm says it wants to lower their status and their pay.' He encouraged middle-aged lawyers to be adaptable by applying their analytical skills elsewhere in business.That view was supported by Peter Scott, the former managing partner of Eversheds' London and European offices, who is now a director of management consultants Horwath Consultancy.

He called on the Law Society to provide career counselling for its members which would 'add value' to their futures outside traditional private practice.Mr Scott lamented the fact that middle-aged commercial lawyers were being sidelined by their firms.

He said the profession needed to retain older lawyers and their expertise.

'Firms need to accommodate older partners who are still active and who still want to contribute.

There is a lot to be said for having a few grey hairs.' He pointed to the US where he knew of lawyers who were working successfully as consultants into their eighties.The burn-out syndrome was also attacked by Andrew Holroyd, chairman of the Law Society's training committee.

He said: 'The culture of some of the big firms seems to be that they will bleed lawyers dry and then chuck them out.

We must resist that because it is bad for the profession.'Jonathan Ames