Jessica Learmond-Criqui analyses why more solicitors are departing from the City practice ethos to challenge traditional working patterns

Employment lawyers have had a busy time of it over the past seven years or so.

Our practices have burgeoned as employment and human resources issues have moved steadily up the boardroom agenda in UK and international businesses.

We have been clocking up unprecedented chargeable hours advising our clients on increased maternity rights, new paternity rights, flexible working, whistle-blowing and international employment issues, to name a few.

Added to this, we have been busy writing client guides and newsletters on employment topics, rehearsing seminar topics, training young lawyers and taking our turn in resolving firm management issues, which has to be done as well as our busy fee-earning schedules.

So why is it that, despite the prominence law firms now give to their employment practices, as a profession we are so slow to adapt our own working cultures?

We all know the first-in-last-out game and the countless other political manoeuvres regularly played out by those keen to get on in high-performance environments - and such practices are exacerbated during an economic downturn.

There is no doubt that politicking in any working environment is essential, but it becomes counter-productive when it becomes all-consuming at the expense of business building and client service.

Today, there is an increasing number of senior, successful law practitioners, who, like me, have opted to take their practices into a different working environment altogether.

That is not to say that they do not work as hard or will not return to the big City practices at some stage.

But it may be suggesting that they prefer a less unnecessarily competitive environment in which to work so that they can focus on their passion for the law and for client servicing.

At the same time, they can have a fuller share in the lives of their families.

It has been well documented in the wider business and management press that the loyalty dynamic between employers and employees has changed dramatically in the post-war years.

All employers - including those in the legal profession - have seen regular moves of key fee-earners and need to take note.

Particularly since the withdrawal of employer loyalty in the 1970s/80s recession, which was evidenced by mass redundancies, many employees have withdrawn their loyalty to the employer in response.

What we are seeing in the legal profession is a gradual mirroring of this pattern, and this is in large part responsible for the current challenge to traditional ways of working.

But to label this shift in attitude as a 'lifestyle change' is a complete misnomer.

My life outside work, like many others in my position, has always been full and fully enjoyed.

What we are talking about here is a 'workstyle change'.

As lawyers, it is about demanding a different working environment, where building the business and looking after clients comes first, and where we are judged by what we deliver - in terms of the quality of our legal and commercial advice and our contribution to the firm's ultimate growth and its bottom line.

Perhaps such pressure from within the legal community will eventually squeeze out the game-playing, the macho posturing and time-wasting political manoeuvring.

If this effect is achieved, it will be positive news for the profession, and will give it a turbo boost along on its journey to make modern and compassionate business people of us all.

Jessica Learmond-Criqui recently moved her practice out of the City to the boutique firm, Mayfair-based Collins Benson Goldhill