Category: Article

For years, I’ve been baffled to see so many senior profiles that nobody wants any more, except for interim management assignments (the so-called disposable or “Kleenex” applicants).

Since Jarod Legal was founded (in July 2023), I’ve been surprised by the number of applications I’ve received from experienced profiles (if not seniors or over 50s), either unemployed or on interim management assignments.
Profiles are varied, with different origins and backgrounds, but what they all have in common is that they have genuine values and undeniable professional skills.

I’ve interviewed some fascinating people, with real professional stories to tell and with all kinds of legal or tax backgrounds.
I’ve spoken to former lawyers who have become in-house Legal Directors. Men and women who started out at Sciences Po before going to university, applicants who first worked abroad before taking up a legal position in France, generalists who, in addition to their work, wrote theses out of passion!

Another common denominator: an incredible ability to adapt to different environments, corporate issues and requests from management.

I met an applicant specialising in IT contracts who was asked to set up an economic sanctions and embargo program because she had had a short period of experience in internal audit, but above all because she was capable of doing so. I’ve spoken to former M&A lawyers who, as legal directors, have had to adapt and work on R&D projects with complex patent issues.

Our seniors got talent, yet nobody wants them except for temporary assignments.
Is it because legal and tax management departments are affected by a form of ageism? Is it because of the supposed salary expectations of these applicants? If so, how would you know if you don’t know them?

Is the legal and tax market discriminatory?
Yes, and it always has been. Even though there have been some positive developments in terms of legal recruitment, not everyone has equal opportunities. And yes, that still exists, just like burying one’s head in the sand or denial.

As far as seniors are concerned, they do get interviews, but they rarely go through to the end of the recruitment process for permanent positions. Of course, we’ll never tell them that they weren’t selected because they’re over 55, and that in a legal management department where the average age is 35, hiring a senior employee is unthinkable…

I recently spoke to a Legal Director who had also worked as a General Secretary. This person didn’t get past the interview stage with a recruitment agency. Why was she turned down? Because her legal training, apparently unknown to the recruiter, was not regarded as sufficiently valuable : the person in question holds (among other qualifications) a DJCE (Diplôme de juriste conseil d’entreprise- diploma in corporate law) and was valedictorian of her class. It’s hard not to think that this is a false excuse or a pretext.

There’s a lot of talk and debate about it, but it doesn’t generally go much further.

Why not recruit senior employees on permanent contracts, regardless of their age?

They have experience that many young managers don’t have. They have the ability to manage crisis situations (discovery procedures, various investigations by the authorities, complex negotiations, knowledge of certain foreign markets, etc.) that profiles with 10 years’ experience won’t be able to handle because they don’t have this knowledge, wisdom or agility (at least not yet).

They are agile and adaptable, and their professional experience gives them the necessary distance to deal with complex issues. Qualities that are also recognised when they carry out temporary assignments in companies undergoing a transformation, for example.

If companies recognise their skills and are prepared to recruit them for temporary assignments, why not recruit them for an indefinite period? Prejudice? Preconceptions? Budget? Headcount issues?

You may not know it, but seniors can be flexible too. They are not necessarily looking for a position as Legal Director, Tax Director or Chief Administrative Officer. Often,

They are also interested in positions as experts or company lawyers…. even if they have held management positions in the past. What they are interested in is business law (or tax or…), being part of a team, contributing to a project, helping to develop a company (and sometimes coming to its rescue) and being able to occupy a stable position.

Seniors can also be flexible in terms of compensation (without, of course, selling out) and recruiting them will certainly cost less than having a lawyer on secondment for several years (which is something I’ve noticed on several occasions recently).

Lastly, senior citizens have often had the opportunity to manage in the course of their professional careers and the knowledge they could pass on to younger profiles seems obvious.

It is high time that the profession took action to remedy this injustice done to senior citizens (and more generally to combat all forms of discrimination).

You too will be a senior citizen one day, so think about it.

The Village de la Justice editorial team asked Christian Lamy, a seasoned expert in legal recruitment, to give us some perspective on the changes the legal world is undergoing in terms of recruitment…

« When I started my career in legal and tax recruitment 25 years ago, I remember that everything was easy. The legal profession was on a roll. We were witnessing a new ‘industrial revolution’ in the legal profession. Companies as a whole were beginning to really understand the benefits of having an in-house legal and tax team. Legal departments were emerging from the shadows and their position within companies was steadily improving. In house Legal Counsels, in particular, could take satisfaction in seeing their profession finally valued or at least considered.

At the time, there were a large number of vacancies. Legal temping was booming (even if it was badly perceived and highly devalued) and we had no trouble finding applicants (already in post or immediately available) and matching them to all types of vacancies (fixed-term, permanent, temping).

Everything was easy, or so I thought? Almost, because in 1998, CVs were still sent by fax and the internet was running on a 56K modem.
Then a series of events followed, such as the bursting of the Internet bubble and the subprime crisis.

At the same time, we witnessed the emergence and deployment of compliance programs in France and the beginnings of the “Grand Paris” project (around 2016).

For decades, publicists were the sickly children of the legal world. There were a huge number of profiles available, with salaries well below market levels. Then, all of a sudden, demand exploded. A huge number of private and public companies and local authorities started recruiting legal counsels specialising in public procurement on a massive scale.

Today, it is extremely complicated to find and recruit a legal counsel (even one with 2/3 years’ experience) with a minimum of skills in public procurement. They are in great demand (regardless of their seniority) and the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics have not helped matters.

In recent years, the legal and tax professions have become increasingly important as a result of the fact that ALL sectors of activity are increasingly regulated.

Add to that a pinch of the Sapin II law (2017), a zest of the GDPR (2018), sprinkle it all with Covid-19 and you have a major shortage of applicants in many skill areas. This situation has happened very rarely in the past.

The health crisis has created so many problems between customers and suppliers (sudden termination of contracts, insolvency proceedings, contract renegotiations, litigation, etc.) that even companies that continued to outsource their legal files to law firms have been forced to ‘staff up’ and recruit a legal manager/director or a single legal counsel or a team.

Covid-19 has certainly changed attitudes and opened up some people’s chakras, but it has also brought new legal, tax and technological challenges: teleworking (employment law/HR) and the geographical mobility of employees, ‘full remote’ in certain sectors such as tech/the emergence of new internal organisation methods, the digitalisation of legal services (electronic signature, dematerialisation, etc.), legal ops, etc.

As Socrates so rightly said, “what makes a man, or a woman is their great adaptability” or Sebastiao Salgado: “the true intelligence of human beings is their capacity to adapt. Men and women can adapt to anything, including the worst”.

Why are companies and law firms unable to recruit today?

Because there are still many structures in France that are unable, unwilling or unable to adapt (some still think they are in a strong position on the job market). Many companies are still finding it hard to manage change, to challenge a model that dates back to another era.

And it’s not just about teleworking. We’re talking about the ability to offer salaries that are in line with the market, companies that have real human values and that don’t use their CSR policy as a marketing campaign or to revamp their employer brand. Applicants are also looking for flexibility in the way they organise their work, trust from their manager, recognition, mutual respect (no more tyrannical or toxic profiles), the chance to develop personally, and the right to disagree with management on certain issues/decisions relating to the business.

Mind you, there are many companies that have understood the need to offer something new to potential applicants, but these are generally large groups or companies that have agreed (or are able) to allocate resources and budgets to do so. Unfortunately, this only represents a minority.

I would also like to take this opportunity to come back to the subject of teleworking. In my opinion, teleworking was beneficial during the health crisis, but today some people see it as a form of alienation. Some say loud and clear that employees don’t want it anymore and that they’d rather come and work in the office. This is true, but not for everyone. Ladies and gentlemen, don’t be so definitive!

Adapt, allow choice (where possible). From experience, I can tell you that for the average person (myself included), a single day of teleworking a week is not enough and many applicants drop out of a recruitment process for this reason.

In short, it’s getting harder and harder to recruit. There is a real shortage of applicants. On the other hand, there are a lot of senior profiles available on the market. Let’s digress for a moment: during the health crisis, companies realised that, in the event of a hard blow or otherwise, it was a good idea to recruit senior profiles so that they could bring their professional experience to bear, particularly in crisis management. It has to be said that since the ‘return to normality’, discrimination against seniors is in full swing and the post-crisis level has been reached once again.

There are fewer and fewer profiles in active search (with the exception, therefore, of seniors), and applicants are in great demand, so if companies and law firms stick to their guns and remain rigid, it won’t work.

Adapting, being open, offering solutions, fair remuneration and challenging yourself are the keys to success if you don’t want to end up in the creek without a paddle.

In the end, it’s just logic and common sense ».