The Transitions Project: supporting law graduates to flourish not founder

The shift from law graduate to trainee to newly qualified solicitor can be a tough one, and many struggle. That's why we've launched the Transitions Project, aimed at understanding how the profession can best support graduates as they move into the world of work. Our Outreach and Engagement Manager Amber Shadle explains more.

Entering the workplace for the first time can be an intimidating experience. For a lot of graduates, it might be their first time working in a law firm or even in an office environment. They leave the routines and expectations of university behind, and enter a professional world of allocated workloads, less guidance and a new title of “trainee”, with its own weight of expectations and responsibilities.

This period of time, where a graduate transitions from university into the world of work, can feel very pressured, impacting their wellbeing and even influencing whether someone continues in their legal career.

Losing talent to stress

According to the Law Society of Scotland’s 2023 Profile of the Profession report, 36% of trainees and 49% of those qualified for five years or less have considered leaving the profession.

Of the trainees who have considered leaving the profession, 64% cite poor mental health or wellbeing as the main factor. For newly qualified solicitors (NQs) who have considered leaving due to mental health or wellbeing, the figure is 54%.

It’s no secret that the legal profession doesn’t have the best of reputations when it comes to work-life balance or employees’ wellbeing. And this is something that students already know. In the 2023 Law Society of Scotland Student Survey, when asked how they responded to the statement “I perceive the law as a mentally healthy industry to work in”, 42% disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement, and 38.5% neither agreed nor disagreed.

These figures demonstrate how low students’ expectations are of how their mental health and wellbeing will fare once they qualify. And the responses from NQs show us that wellbeing issues are a fundamental reason that many consider leaving the profession within the first five years.

This issue isn’t going away and has real potential to impact the future of the legal profession.

The Transitions Project

The question facing us is what can be done? Are there concrete steps that can be taken to support graduates through their NQ years?

The Lawscot Wellbeing team has identified a number of opportunities where the wellbeing of this group can be supported, in particular as graduates prepare to leave university and start at firms.

As a result, we’ve launched our Transitions Project, a multi-year project focused on how universities and the profession can best support graduates during the period when they move away from university and into the world of work.

The first step of this project has already kicked off, bringing together university contacts (including student wellbeing teams, law lecturers, careers advisors and Diploma coordinators) in May to talk about the wellbeing issues facing graduates.

With nine out of the 11 accredited LLB providers represented, discussion ranged from what they are currently doing to support students’ wellbeing as they move towards graduation and beyond, what the universities would like to see from firms and the Law Society, and potential next steps. It has given us a strong starting point to take the suggestions and concerns forward.

In June, the next step of the project will bring firms together to discuss what they are seeing and to share best practice. Then, in the autumn, we will host a joint roundtable for universities and firms to speak directly about their experiences and discuss a concrete action plan.

Then, in 2027, the Lawscot Wellbeing team’s key focus will be to expand the conversation to include those who are about to graduate, trainees and NQs.

The goal

The goal of the Transitions Project is to foster an environment where key stakeholders in the development of the next generation of legal talent talk to each other, where open communication is encouraged, and graduates get the wellbeing support they need.

Students and graduates do a lot of work to get into the legal profession and we want to support them to have a long-term fulfilling career.

If this sounds like the sort of project you would like to be involved in and you would like to attend one of our roundtables, please get in touch at [email protected].