As a firm working actively with private client lawyers, we were interested to read in the SRA’s ‘Diversity in law firms’ workforce’ report in January, of the continuing growth of women in the profession. Particularly, as it seems to tie in with our own experience.
The proportion of women in law tipped into a majority in 2019, (100 years after the law enabled women to enter the profession) and has now increased to the point where it represents 53% of those working in the profession. More significantly 62% of all practising solicitors are women.
Given our specialisms, working with elder clients and those in vulnerable circumstances, the lawyers we collaborate with in the best interest of those clients, or those introduced by a referring solicitor, will invariably be private client lawyers. Women dominate here too, with 58% of private client lawyers being women.
Within financial services we have a fabulous organisation, the Society of Later Life Advisers (SOLLA), founded by a trailblazing female barrister, Tish Hanifan. SOLLA’s ‘Later Life Adviser’ accreditation has become the gold standard, held by our MD, and is an endorsement of skills to work with and advise, elderly and vulnerable clients, their carers, and families.
Logically, financial planners who are SOLLA accredited have sought to collaborate with like-minded legal professionals, which has traditionally led us to Solicitors for the Elderly accredited private client solicitors. Now, rebranded as the Association of Lifetime Lawyers, we have again found that, in our region, and when we attend their events, most lawyers choosing to specialise, as we have, are women. Indeed, a quick search on the ASL directory, within a 20-mile radius of our office near Bridgnorth, reveals 32 specialist solicitors, and 25 of them (a staggering 78%) are women.
Fortunately, we already have excellent working relationships with many of these women and their firms, and have found them to be caring, empathetic, and tuned in to identifying clients who might be in vulnerable circumstances, but research from the Legal Services Board (LSB), as recently as 2022 found that not all lawyers are the same. In fact, the LSB paper labelled much of the profession as cold and clinical. The SRA, as we would expect, issued fresh guidance as a regulator and the Law Society also produced an excellent paper on identifying and supporting clients who might be in vulnerable circumstances.
If you are a solicitor or a firm seeking additional training or support in developing your skills when it comes to identifying and supporting clients who find themselves in vulnerable circumstances, then we can certainly help. Bearing in mind that the LSB in its 2022 paper suggested that any consumer needing to approach a lawyer is probably vulnerable, we would also recommend that you visit the Consumer Duty Alliance website at www.consumerduty.org where you will find fabulous resources.
Lastly, if you are working with later life or vulnerable clients and their families, carers, or perhaps their attorneys, and do not yet have a trusted financial planning partner, visit the SOLLA site to find a new colleague with whom to collaborate.
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