Unwitting ageism is deep-seated in law firms and could lead to costly employment actions, a director of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) warned practitioners during a conference session on the new age discrimination legislation.



Steve Williams, director of equality at ACAS, added that monitoring the performance of all staff, irrespective of age, was key if law firms were to successfully defend claims under the rules, which came into force earlier this month.



Mr Williams gave examples of how unconscious ageism was endemic in society - one example is the assumption that older people are unable or unwilling to cope with new technologies. Another is that training courses were wasted on staff who, by virtue of their advanced years, were felt to be too set in their ways to benefit.



Mr Williams said: 'But why antagonise so many colleagues? Apart from anything else, they're old and experienced enough to know the ropes and litigate.'



He added that a change of culture is required, with checks and balances to ensure that all age (and sex, race and disability) sectors were receiving the same opportunities.



James Davies, joint head of employment at City firm Lewis Silkin, cited real life examples of how firms were breaching the legislation. He highlighted advertisements for training contracts and summer placements which were clearly only suitable for students, who were likely to be young. The same reservations applied to the university 'milk round'.



Mr Davies also warned of the dangers of specifying years of post-qualification experience (PQE). He said: 'How do you objectively justify a minimum requirement of three years' PQE rather than two-and-a-half years? The safer solution is to describe the experience you require rather than try and define the years that it takes the average candidate to acquire it.'



Defining the rules and measuring performance are also crucial. Mr Davies added: 'This is particularly so in the case of pale, stale males whom you want to push out because they're coasting. Unlike a younger solicitor, they've got nothing to lose - they don't care if they get a reputation for being litigious - and they will sue you for loss of earnings under the age rules. In the case of a partner, it could cost you millions of pounds.'



Jonathan Rayner