Recently-laid off private practice lawyers are clamouring for public sector jobs. Alex Aldridge examines the pros and cons of life on the Government payroll

As City law firms cut jobs and freeze pay levels, the public sector has become an increasingly attractive option to lawyers. Part of the allure is, no doubt, the relative security offered by government employers. But that's not the whole story. City associates who are tired of handling repetitive tasks such as due diligence and document review have long looked enviously at the more challenging work carried out by their peers in government bodies such as the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Treasury Solicitor's Office, but shied away from moving because of the carrot of law firm partnership and higher salaries. However, with uncertainty about future employment prospects – let alone partnership prospects – rife, increasing numbers have begun to consider a move into public service roles.

The hitch is that the job market is currently awash with recently redundant City professionals, meaning the competition to land public sector legal roles has never been stiffer. Recruiters specialising in this area talk of the unusually high standard of CVs they are receiving at the moment. So what are the prospects like for City lawyers looking to make the switch? And how do you make yourself stand out from the crowd?

Those working in the public sector emphasise how important it is for candidates to ensure that a career in this area is for them. So what sort of people excel in such roles? And what are the downsides of life in in-house government jobs?

BERR

Certain departments in the Government Legal Services (GLS) are booming right now – with the Treasury Solicitor's Department particularly busy and recruiting lawyers at various grades to add to its current total of 461 solicitors and barristers. Other divisions awash with credit crunch-related work include BERR – which contains 116 lawyers – and the 182 lawyer-strong Department for Work & Pensions/Health (DWP).

The job prospects may be good – if you can get yourself in the door ahead of other City applicants, that is – but, according to BERR legal chief Rachel Sandby-Thomas, the GLS isn't for everyone.

"Everything we do is about law," says Sandby-Thomas, "which is great from the point of view of someone who loves that side of the job, but may not suit your typical dealmaking lawyer." She adds that the law involved is "at the cutting edge end of things" – meaning textbooks aren't much use, leaving GLS lawyers to rely on their ability to "piece things together themselves".

Accordingly, it is no surprise that analytical ability tops the list of qualities that the GLS looks for when recruiting – with interviews at all levels involving a written test based around a hypothetical legal problem on which candidates then receive questions from a three-man interview panel.

"One assumption lawyers applying to us from private practice make is that they think we are most interested in their specialist sector expertise. Actually, we're most interested in their legal ability, although interpersonal skills also figure fairly highly too," says Sandby-Thomas.

This tallies with the experience of Stuart Burrows, a recruiter at Badenoch & Clark who specialises in lawyer moves between private practice and the public sector. "A lot of City lawyers applying for local government roles big up their M&A and joint venture experience, which just isn't relevant to such jobs." Burrows adds that the GLS tends to be wary of private practice 'refugees' who are looking for a safe haven in the public sector for a couple of years before returning to their old roles when the economy bounces back.

Sandby-Thomas herself is ex-City, having joined the GLS in 1992 from Linklaters, where she spent three-and-a-half years post-qualification. She believes the two- to four-year post qualification experience stage is a good time to make the switch: "At that point lawyers possess enough experience, but are not overly settled into the private practice way of life". However, she emphasises that the GLS takes people at various stages, giving an example of a former City firm partner who recently joined BERR. "But you've got to be pretty disciplined to take that sort of cut in your finances at that stage in your career," she adds.

GLS salaries range from £40,000-£50,000 for less experienced lawyers, to around £100,000 for director-level posts. The quality of work balances out the lower remuneration levels, as does the fact that lawyers can switch between departments (of which there are over 25) fairly regularly. Two- to three-year stints in the various departments are quite common, with Sandby-Thomas arriving at BERR via spells at the Treasury, the Attorney General's law office and the Department of Health. She suggests that this opportunity to change roles is why GLS attrition rates are low, adding that the majority of people who move back into private practice tend to do so for "financial reasons".

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO)

In June last year the de Grazia report criticised the SFO for its low conviction rates and unfocused investigations, recommending the appointment of a general counsel (GC) to oversee its team of 60 lawyers. A period of soul-searching followed, leading to the arrival of leading criminal silk Vivian Robinson QC as the organisation's first ever GC.

But what is the SFO actually like as a place to work? "The great thing about the SFO is the quality of work," says the organisation's head of policy and standards, Kathleen Harris. "A lot of the time SFO lawyers work on extremely high-profile cases, which gives you a real sense of purpose, plus you're dealing with changes in the law at the very earliest stage."

A recent case saw Harris and her team charged with anticipating how a court would interpret a newly-issued European directive preventing companies convicted of criminal offences from tendering for work.

Harris' typical day sees her arrive at the office around 7.30am. Her mornings are generally spent reviewing emails, attending policy meetings, working on draft consultation papers and meeting officials. Lunch is a quick sandwich at her desk, followed by an afternoon of checking on how her team are progressing and providing guidance to the prosecutors handling the cases she is running.

Of course, there are downsides to the job – not least the salary, which at around £40,000-£100,000 falls considerably short of what lawyers can earn in private practice. "And don't think that the hours aren't long," adds Harris.

Previously a barrister at 6 King's Bench Walk chambers, Harris joined the GLS in 2000, serving as a prosecutor in the Inland Revenue and then as a policy adviser at the Attorney General's office, before moving to the SFO last year. She says that the organisation is open to bringing in lawyers from a private practice background, provided they have the right experience. "Their City background may actually give them an advantage," she adds.

Ex-SFO director Robert Wardle, now a consultant at DLA Piper, is well placed to comment on the contrast between the City and the public sector. However, he says that what struck him most is the similarity between the two: "It's not actually all that different – in both places you've got committed, hard-working lawyers who are interested in the work they're dealing with – although obviously City firms are about making money and the SFO isn't."

Wardle highlights the "fantastic support services" provided at DLA Piper as a major perk of life at a commercial law firm, although he concedes to missing the public interest nature of the work at the SFO. He continues: "But at least you don't get people attacking you all the time, which is a feature of a high-profile public sector role."

Local government

At present there are around 4,000 solicitors working in 400 local authorities across England and Wales, providing a range of legal advice on issues including housing, planning and the environment. With recent central government budget tightening leading to funding cuts in this area, local authority roles aren't an obvious option for City lawyers looking for new avenues in the wake of the recession.

Badenoch & Clark's Burrows comments: "There is a lot of talk about people going for these roles, but we are not seeing much evidence of movement. Basically, as the economy has gone down, there has been a significant lull in activity in local government legal recruitment. However, there continues to be traffic to and from private practice for lawyers specialising in areas with a broad impact such as planning law and tax."

Norton Rose head of planning Nigel Hewitson spent 15 years in local government, followed by a five-year stint at English Heritage, before moving into private practice with West End firm Howard Kennedy in 2006.

"In the public sector you get to the point where the next step up is into a management role, taking you further and further away from the law, which I started to miss," says Hewitson.

He adds that his role at Norton Rose is much more law-oriented – and involves considerably fewer management meetings. "English Heritage and local government were certainly fond of management meetings. When time is money you get far less of those," he reflects.

Hewitson admits that money played a significant part in his decision to quit the public sector and suggests that the relatively low pay on offer for local government lawyers is responsible for the above average staff turnover levels in such roles. "I was young and idealistic when I went into local government and I wanted to give something back," says Hewitson on the motivation behind his initial decision to pursue a career in the public sector.

"But that diminished over the years as my priorities shifted." He adds that, over time, many of the better planning lawyers get jobs in private practice, with clients appreciating the fact that they have worked on both sides of the fence.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA)

As the City re-adjusts in the wake of the financial crisis, the FSA has found itself at the heart of the action – and is increasingly regarded as a highly desirable place to work. At present its enforcement division, headed by ex-White & Case litigator Margaret Cole, is looking to up headcount from around 300 to 340. Meanwhile, this year will also see an increase in the markets and exchanges division – the other section of the FSA with a large lawyer population – with a recruitment process currently ongoing. But competition for places is intense.

"We are seeing some great CVs here," says Cole. "What we are looking for are highly-qualified lawyers from the top firms who are brave, with a strong intellect and good legal ability – in short, individuals who have skill sets that match those of the people on the other side of the table from us."

Although the FSA is accountable to Treasury ministers – and through them to parliament – it is operationally independent, and funded entirely by the firms it regulates, giving it greater freedom over what it pays staff than the GLS. This explains why it has recently been able to boost remuneration levels for its lawyers. However, pay remains some way off City rates – ranging from £40,000 to £140,000. "We offer a perfectly good and fair package," says Cole, "But perhaps more important is the quality of the work, which compares favourably to the ebbs and flows you get in private practice."

Former FSA head of enforcement Peter Bibby, who now heads Bingham McCutchen's London financial regulatory practice, thinks it is a great idea for private practice lawyers to do a spell with the regulator.

"I would recommend it for three reasons: it gives you a very specialised knowledge of regulatory law; it enables you to understand the pressures the FSA operates under; and it is great in terms of building contacts. If I have a difficult regulatory issue, I know exactly who to call," he says.

Bibby believes that, as time goes by, the level of interchange between lawyers in commercial law firms and those in public service will reach the levels seen in the US, where it is seen as the norm for attorneys at top firms to spend time at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other government bodies. However, he cautions that candidates hoping to pursue this route need more than a passing interest in regulation: "Lots of people profess an interest in financial regulation however, in order to stand out from the crowd, you need to be able to discuss not only the legal elements, but the policy drivers and philosophy behind the regulations."

Michael Blair QC, barrister at 3 Verulam Buildings, spent 13 years at the FSA and its predecessor body, the Securities and Investments Board, serving as general counsel between 1998-00. Before that he was with the GLS for 20 years, acting as an under-secretary in the home civil service from 1982-87. Like Bibby, Blair sees a regular flow of lawyers between the public and private sectors as healthy. As this continues, he thinks the public sector will be forced to up the wages it offers to remain competitive.

"When I started out, a job was for life. But now you've got headhunters calling people up and much less security, which, as we have seen already with the FSA to an extent, is going to affect salaries," says Blair, who admits to earning significantly more at the Bar than in his previous positions.

Blair thinks that many of the qualities typically possessed by successful barristers – imagination, an ability to think along unconventional lines, an appetite for hard work – are shared by leading lawyers in public service. "Quite often at the FSA the policy people would come up to me and say, 'We're rather stuck here, can you think of anything?', and you get the same kind of thing with clients at the Bar," he says.

Despite the lower remuneration levels, Blair believes life at the FSA can be tougher than it is at the Bar: "The responsibilities were greater in public service: one case for one client is not as stressful as dealing with an entire sector or policy."

He says the best thing about working in a government body was "contributing to national welfare in a way you could almost touch", giving an example of one of his first jobs upon joining the GLS in 1969 – handling the bill to reduce the age of majority from 21 to 18.

"Being in charge of that as a very young man was a fantastic experience," he recalls. And the worst thing about public sector roles? "Sometimes I felt like I was the grain between two stones, but that's normal for any public servant."

Andrew Whittaker – General Counsel, FSA

A few minutes in the company of FSA general counsel Andrew Whittaker and it is clear that you are speaking with someone who enjoys their job: "What I really like is being able to use law proactively, so that you are actually involved in law-making and, as a result, influencing how things work. I am very fortunate my position at the FSA allows me to do that." He also relishes being able to "give something back".

It was this commitment to public service that saw Whittaker move from McKenna & Co (which merged with Cameron Markby Hewitt in 1997 to form CMS Cameron McKenna) to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as a two-year qualified assistant solicitor in 1982. There, he worked on the Gower review of investor protection, which he remembers as "a fantastic opportunity to create a new regulatory system".

After 15 years at the DTI, Whittaker moved on to the Securities and Investments Board, which became the FSA in 1997, taking the role of director of the markets and exchanges division. In 2000 he was promoted to GC, a position that involves him overseeing a team of around 70 staff, the majority of whom are lawyers. They are divided into five groups: European Union, markets, retail, regulatory services and a fifth "flexible" group. This year will see a "modest" increase in the team through a recruitment process which is currently ongoing. The 120-strong enforcement division, led by former White & Case litigator Margaret Cole, operates separately.

Those who know Whittaker point out that his understated style belies a more forceful side and a political nous developed after years in public service. Still, even with these qualities in abundance, it cannot be easy regulating all those aggressive bankers and deal-making lawyers.

"What you have to remember is that people who can be quite aggressive in a deal-making context are not always so aggressive with their regulator," he responds, arguing that the substantial numbers of ex-financial services professionals employed by the FSA prevents the development of an 'us and them' dynamic.

Sarah Turnbull – Head of legal, Ofcom

Ofcom head of legal Sarah Turnbull trained with Lovells, where she qualified as a competition lawyer, before moving on to SJ Berwin in 2000. After five years at the firm, she received a call from a headhunter alerting her to the fact that Ofcom – formed in 2002 to regulate the communications sector – was recruiting. "I wasn't looking to leave," says Turnbull, "but I didn't think such an exciting opportunity would come up very often."

Although Ofcom isn't part of the GLS, its lawyers are required to have that same level of ease with difficult black letter legal concepts as government lawyers, with much of the work involving recently-created law, about which there are no precedents or textbooks. "I've handled three Court of Appeal cases in my time here, dealing with points of law that have never been litigated," says Turnbull.

The legal team at Ofcom currently numbers 36, the result of some significant expansion last year. At present it is recruiting to fill several junior-level positions. The work done by Ofcom lawyers covers a range of areas, including competition, communications, consumer, public and EU law, and the people in the team have a mixture of City and public sector backgrounds.

Turnbull says she particularly enjoys acting in the interests of consumers rather than "minimising risk for large corporates", as she did in private practice, but warns those considering a career at Ofcom that life there is not any less demanding than at City law firms.

Tellingly, the organisation insists on its lawyers completing timesheets. Turnbull says that she wouldn't rule out a return to private practice in the future, citing the example of two former Ofcom colleagues who recently moved to Ashurst and Herbert Smith.