Herbert Smith Freehills' chair and senior partner, James Palmer, interviews former TalkTalk CEO Baroness Harding of Winscombe at the Legal Week Connect event today (29 November). Here, he sets out some of his thoughts about how the legal profession needs to change in order to keep attracting the next generation of lawyers.

It is a cliché that law is in a period of change. In addressing those changes, we need to ensure that law remains a career of choice for talented young people.

Recruiting talented people has historically not been a problem, though the mix of those developing successful careers has changed in this country and needs to change still further. Law firms and the Bar continue to receive vast numbers of applications from able graduates, and a small number of other entrants.

While there are plenty of reasons to believe this should continue to be the case, we should not assume it will automatically be so.  

Other service industries have, at least in certain respects, been seen to have lost their way and damaged their credibility.  

This has had repercussions for their public roles and standing, and on their appeal as places to work. Of course, the reputational harm to parts of the financial services industry or journalism has each occurred in different contexts, but is the legal profession as a group of people automatically immune from the same risks and challenges?

The reputation of an industry or profession is influenced by many issues but they include its integrity, its public usefulness and the reputation it has as a place to work.

I also suggest that the vital social role of the law, as the means for people to conduct their business and wider activities securely and with certainty, together with the even more fundamental social stability for which the rule of law is key, make even more important the need for law to continue to provide an attractive career for highly talented people.  

There is a natural desire for people, whether as lawyers or in any other career, to want to be relevant and useful, to develop their skills, and to have a level of personal control over their work. Law should provide these, but does it do so consistently enough?

There are challenges to encouraging talented people to treat the law as a great career.  They include some of the following themes.  

Increased scale and complexity in many firms: we know that firms large or small can be perceived from outside as impersonal, and of course at times also from inside. Pressures for financial success, combined with more effective control of cost and value of service, all bring challenges. So do the changes to the way in which we deliver our services through technology, or as elements of our services are dispensed with entirely.  

All of these can make law seem less appealing. I keep being told how millennials are completely different in their motives and do not want to work in large organisations or have long term careers.  

My own view is that millennials as people are exactly the same as the previous generations, just younger. What is different is the environment they are in and their experiences and expectations. They are just as capable of being motivated and interested by the law as those before them.

Changes to the profession and how we work are inevitable. But to take advantage of the opportunities from these changes, I think we will need to continue to work hard at giving people responsibility, at reducing hierarchy and ensuring that we work for service and outcomes for our clients and others.

Sustaining the highest standards of integrity will also remain vital. We need to think hard about greater empowerment and recognition of the very different contributions – not just from partners or senior lawyers but from all of those involved in the complex services we provide.

If we are not complacent and recognise our responsibility to sustaining the long-term success of law as a career, I have no doubt these challenges can be addressed and we can have the satisfaction of being followed by future generations of lawyers committed to serving clients and the rule of law.

James Palmer is one of a number of high profile speakers discussing everything from diversity to innovation and technology at Legal Week Connect, which is being held in London this week.