Future Lawyers Report 2025

A competitive salary is top of the list, with 70.1% of respondents citing it as a key motivation to stay in a role. Compared to the 39.5% who said the same last year (21.5% in 2022), this is a significant shift. This is followed by 65.8% who want to see potential career development in order to stay (2023: 63.2%; 2022: 48.3%). For three consecutive years, our surveys have revealed salary and career progression as the most important factors for staying in a role.

Salary and career progression are also important to junior lawyers when it comes to making career choices. Money motivates 43.7% of respondents (2023: 39.3%; 2022: 40%). 44.2% say that opportunities for career development affect their career choice. While this is down on previous years (2023: 55%; 2022: 67%), career development remains a top consideration alongside salary. However, this year, 46.7% of respondents say that a good work-life balance is key to their career choice. This is significantly more than last year (38.1%).

Opportunities to progress are important to junior lawyers – it impacts both career choice and how long they stay in a role. Only 27.7% of respondents are ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ satisfied with their career progression, compared to 48.9% last year (2002: 34.4%). Comments include, “[t]here's been no career progression for years” and “[it] takes a long time to make a small progression”. With 29% saying lack of progression is one of their biggest concerns with a career in law (up from 17.1% last year), it is clearly a growing frustration.

It’s not only progression once qualified that junior lawyers are frustrated about. The time it takes to qualify is the biggest point of concern for 58% of respondents (and was also the main concern in 2023 and 2022). Concern about pressure from management and colleagues has decreased 22.5% this year (2023: 42.8%), to be overtaken by concerns about working hours (42%).

For some, career progression feels like a battle: “It’s difficult to get an initial foothold into the industry as most if not all positions require previous experience in that same position”. This is summed up by another respondent: “The biggest barrier to law is getting in in the first instance!”

While 66.2% of respondents say they would only stay in a role for 2 to 5 years, they plan to stay in the profession for longer. Over half of respondents (50.6%) see themselves in the sector for more than 10 years post-qualification.

People don’t tend to ‘fall into’ professions – they make a conscious choice, plus the training and studying involved require hard work and sacrifice. The next generation of lawyers want to be part of the profession, but they feel there are barriers in place that slow down their progress.

Only 24.7% of respondents perceive human soft skills, such as communication and teamwork, as being valued in the hiring process. However, when asked which skill is most important for a successful career in the legal industry, 54.5% say that soft skills are absolutely vital. Just 26% of respondents say that technical skills are important. There is a significant misalignment between the perception of what skills legals teams want versus the skills that lead to a successful legal career. Employers are potentially passing over competent juniors by not considering the full range of skills juniors have to offer.

A different approach to recruitment could make a positive impact on career progression. By increasing the value placed on soft skills, more opportunities will be available to juniors. Soft skills and technical skills need to be acknowledged as equally important facets of a well-rounded and effective legal professional.

Respondents see law as a stepping stone to other industries. As one respondent says, “law can be a good stepping stone for another career because it develops core skills, such as entrepreneurialism and resilience, as well as attention to detail.” Would junior lawyers feel differently about moving into other careers if all their needs were being met? Employers need to consider what they can do to retain juniors rather than lose those valuable skills to other sectors.

Over one-third (36%) of respondents flag work-life balance as a top source of concern. It is no surprise then that when asked if they consider themselves to have a good work-life balance, 53.7% of respondents say ‘no’ or ‘it could be better’. Juniors know that overwork and burnout shouldn’t be the indicators of success in the profession.

In terms of making career choices, 46.7% say that a good work-life balance is their top motivation. This is up from 38.1% last year (2022: 45.5%). Juniors want to work for a company that has a “supportive, work-life balance” and “that embraces work-life balance by having a good flexible working policy”. Maintaining that balance is as much about time in the office, as time out of it: “[I want a] good work-life balance where I do not need to work over[time] every day and that supports my wellbeing and professional development.”

The survey shows that the hours juniors think their employer expects of them are in line with the hours they are willing to work. For example, 42% think their employer expects 30–40 hours a week and 46.3% are willing to work that. At the other end of the spectrum, 10% think 50+ hours are expected of them and 9.1% are willing to work those hours. Compared to the 2023 survey, these figures have become more closely aligned.

Juniors place importance on work-life balance. However, there is more to this than simply the number of hours worked. Satisfaction with a role and the profession calls for a combination of factors, including work-life balance, career progression and feeling valued and supported in a role.

In this year’s survey, we included a new question: ‘How important do you believe it is to have the ability to decline assignments based on ethical considerations?’. A huge 60.6% of respondents believe it is ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ important. This shows that ethical responsibility is still very much at the forefront of junior lawyers’ minds in their day-to-day work. They want to work somewhere with “good morals and ethics”.

74.5% of junior lawyers say they feel confident in their understanding of their ethical responsibilities. Equally reassuring is that 75.7% of junior lawyers say they would know where to go for support and advice if an ethical issue arose.

Last year’s survey showed a huge increase in the importance junior lawyers place on working for an organisation where the values are compatible with their own (from 2.6% in 2022 to 45% in 2023). Feedback in this year’s survey shows that this importance continues. Respondents describe wanting “a culture filled trust”, “public well-being ahead of profit” and “a values match, accountability and responsibility throughout”.