Whilst the champagne flowed and every corner bar rang with the convivial cheers of young lawyers, most only worried about having too much work to do. Now, young lawyers have to demonstrate that they can bring a network of contacts and new business to their firm, if they are able to stay in work at all. Newly elected President of the Scottish Young Lawyers Association Rachael Gibson aims to ensure the organisation works to support them.

There is a new broom at the SYLA, as incoming President Rachael Gibson assumes the post vacated by Maryam Labaki. And whilst stalwarts will be glad to know the social agenda is likely to remain as active as ever, Rachael is not content to rest on the laurels of success earned by her illustrious predecessor. Her three years of association with SYLA have given her a clear idea of where the organisation’s agenda will be set.

“What Maryam has done in the last couple of years has completely transformed people’s perceptions of SYLA. She has really raised the profile, and that is something that we absolutely want to continue,” she says.

“The thing that I really want to make my year about is to try and source out new opportunities for new lawyers. It is always difficult to get traineeships, and it is even harder now. Newly qualified jobs are also really hard to come by now. There are other opportunities out there, and we are trying to get people to realise that a traineeship or an NQ job in a private practice firm isn’t the be all and end all. The majority get pushed into the private practice route. As part of that we are developing the education arm of SYLA, and extending that out to development for new lawyers. We are now trying to do more worthwhile, good value networking events.”

Rachael, herself already a senior solicitor at Burness, is keen to ensure that SYLA members bring added value to their roles by ensuring that networking opportunities can be capitalised upon to actually yield tangible new business for their firms.

“There are a lot of interprofessional networking events on the go, but the point of networking is to bring in new business. If you are only networking with lawyers, accountants and surveyors it is not always bringing in new business. Traditionally it has been partners and associates that do that kind of business development. There is increasing pressure on newly qualified lawyers to bring new clients to the firm, and that is difficult when you are one or two years qualified. So we are working on an idea just now to give new lawyers the opportunity to build up new contacts now. They aren’t going to get business out of that in the next year or so, but we are thinking long term, or over the next three to five, and that is quite important. As a new lawyer now, it is not just about having the skills to know what the law is and where it is. It is really about what you can bring to the firm and add to the firm. Networking is a hugely important part of that.”

She adds that other lawyers’ networks such as the Law Society, Core mediation, Scottish Human Rights Commission, the In-house Lawyers Group and WS Society take cognisance of the views of the SYLA, and are keen to engage with them, a development which Rachael welcomes and is keen to cultivate.

“You want to be known by the right people, and all along SYLA have wanted to have a voice, and I would say now that we do have a voice,” she says.

“There have been changes in the profession over the last couple of years, and these are having an impact on the people who are going through their traineeship now and starting out their careers. Those changes are going to bring challenges, but now we have the added challenge with what is going on in the marketplace at the moment. One thing SYLA is trying to do is use the contacts we have to get our members to speak to the right people. The SYLA committee are still very optimistic about the legal profession and the future for young lawyers. Having said that, we don’t let what has been going on cloud our judgement. We are fully aware of what is happening. I do think other opportunities can be created.”

One field Rachael believes is ripe for development is the burgeoning field of human rights, an area which many firms have overlooked the earning potential of.

“Human rights is one area that is going to open up more. I don’t think a lot of firms have fully recognised the significance, importance and amount of work that can be generated from the Human Rights act, and I think that is something that we will see more of, and something I’d like to see more commercial firms being involved in,” she says.

“Human rights in business is going to be a much bigger thing over the coming years, as various UN reports show the human rights impact on business. Maybe commercial firms will start to tune in more, especially with big commercial clients who will be reading more about the impact of human rights legislation.”