Moretolaw.com Offers Career and Lifestyle Options for Lawyers

For those of you who have not already heard, a new website (www.moretolaw.com) has been set up by a group of City and ex-City lawyers with the aim of improving access to career and lifestyle options for lawyers.

Moretolaw was created by Alex Lee who was a lawyer at Herbert Smith for seven years until he left recently in May 2006 to take the site forward.  He has since been joined by a team of lawyers who really like what the site is trying to achieve, that is, more information on options for lawyers.

The Moretolaw team feel that too many lawyers are unsatisfied in their current roles, either because they are not progressing quickly enough or because of a poor work-life balance.  Rather than remain static and unhappy, these lawyers should be considering their options, says Moretolaw, both within the firm and outside of it.  Alex himself says:

 “The problem is that there is very little information for lawyers about the options available to them.  There is a lot of information on the web for graduates, but not for qualified lawyers – we think that should change.”

Moretolaw is building up a network of lawyers who have changed their careers (either within or outside of the law) and who are now in jobs about which lawyers know very little.  According to Alex, “the aim is to inspire and inform by featuring these lawyers on the site, and to put other lawyers in touch with the lawyers in these alternative roles”.

Moretolaw is also a keen advocate of diversity in the profession, noting that diversity is not just about ethnicity but also about allowing alternative ways of working (such as flexible and part-time working) to accommodate lawyers with families, for example.   Moretolaw is trying to get more information from law firms on the levels of flexible and part-time working among fee-earning lawyers.  “We are not saying that any lawyer who is unsatisfied with his or her career should leave their law firm,” says Alex, “it may be that they need to do more to take advantage of the firm’s policy on flexible working, for example, or to focus more on career development within the firm itself – these are also important options for lawyers”.   

Indeed, Alex is keen to point out that Moretolaw is not anti-law firms.  “Far from it”, says Alex, “most of the major firms provide excellent training in skills which are very transferable.  These are great places to start successful careers, legal or otherwise.  We want to tell lawyers more about where starting a career in a law firm takes you, what it is really like, and the long-term career benefits.  Law firms get a bad press in terms of work-life balance – we want to explore the true picture”.

You can find out more about Moretolaw by clicking here: www.moretolaw.com