A long-hours and “jacket on the chair” culture in City law firms is draining talent from the legal profession, according to new research to be published this week.

A study of 13 top City law firms to be presented by Baroness Scotland of Asthal, the Attorney-General, shows that law firms are still suspicious of home-working and of employees who want a healthy “work-life balance”.

And despite some reforms in recent years that allow a degree of flexibile working, the present economic climate now threatens to turn the clock back, the study says.

It gives warning that law firms will tighten their belts and be even less willing to see employees and partners working partly from home or part-time — damaging the recruitment and retention of women lawyers in particular.

The study, sponsored and initiated by the City law firm Addleshaw Goddard with the work-life balance charity, Working Charity, will be published tomorrow at a conference at the Stock Exchange to be addressed by Baroness Scotland.

Cherie Booth, QC, a leading human rights and employment barrister and wife of the former Prime Minister, writes in a foreward to the research that change is urgently needed in the profession or it will lose “the brightest and the best”.

The law would not remain the “destination of choice” without reform to its working practices, she adds. “We can’t afford, as a profession, to keep losing the talents and experience of those who want to enjoy a family and a career.”

“We need to do more,” Ms Booth continues, “to give mothers — and fathers — the chance to balance work and family.”

Ms Booth, who has balanced her career with bringing up four children, adds: “Life is more complex and frenetic than ever before. We enjoy more choice and oppportunities than ever. We also find ourselves — as everyone in the legal profession knows — facing increased demands and stress.”

There is no greater conflict, she adds, than “between the increasingly 24/7 demands of our work, the need to fulfill family responsibilities and the desire to have a life as well as a career”.

The study identifies several working practices that present barriers to flexible working including the long-hours culture and need to be seen in the office with annual targets for lawyers of 1800 billable hours and higher in many law firms. A working week of 50-60 hours is typical.

There is also suspicion that working from home is seen as a “soft option”; a belief that working flexi-time means shorter hours — when the opposite is often the case — and a mistaken belief that clients want their lawyer on hand around the clock.

Other research has found that 60 per cent of employers offer working from home but in reality 69 per cent of employers are reluctant to allow it, the study notes.

Clients often work for organisations that are trying to improve work-life balance and often favour law firms who had a culture of flexibility, the study finds. That is especially marked among younger clients, who put more importance on this than the “baby boomer” generation.

The study was carried out against a background of changing demographics: the number of qualified women solicitors has doubled in the last ten years and they make up 60 per cent of all solicitors with practising certificates. But only 23 per cent of partners in law firms are women.

Although in some areas of law such as transactions and litigation, flexibility can be harder to achieve, none of those surveyed in the 13 law firms felt that flexible working was incompatible with being a lawyer.

The study calls for more teamworking, rather than things being built around a partner; communication with clients to ensure that deadlines are realistic; less emphasis on being present in the office; and the measurement of “output not input”.

Explore Law

• Corporate Law

• Public Law

• Columnists

• Law Panel

• Student Law

• Law Reports

Times Recommends

• Future Stars of the Bar 2008
• Lawyer of the Week: Julie Morris
• Charging suspects - why it's a job for prosecutors