Latest news: Legal salary rises set to be modest; Meeting breaches upset bosses; Lawyers expose clients to cybersecurity threats

In-house counsel lose pay-hike fight

Lawyers in traditional firms are likely to score bigger pay rises in the next 12 months than their in-house counterparts, according to the 2018 Hays Salary Guide.

Nevertheless, the report indicates that salary hikes across the legal sector will be modest overall. Hays says 11 per cent of law firms intend to increase lawyers’ salaries by more than 6 per cent, and about one-quarter expect to do so between 3 per cent and 6 per cent. In-house lawyers, by contrast, will be less fortunate, with 65 per cent of companies giving corporate counsel a pay rise of less than 3 per cent in their next review, while 11 per cent will not get an increase on their salaries at all.

Hays surveyed more than 3000 organisations, representing about 2.3 million employees. Across the professional services sector generally, the survey shows that 73 per cent of respondents pinpoint flexible work practices as the number one benefit they want to receive. Those firms which ignore this trend are likely to suffer recruitment consequences. Staggering start and finishing times for workers is one way to meet their needs.

Leaders place high value on meeting etiquette

Bosses reckon being late to meetings is the biggest etiquette breach for employees. That is the finding in a survey of senior managers by staffing firm Accountemps.

Employees, however, have a different view, saying engaging in office gossip is the worst of the worst behaviour.

According to the report, 34 per cent of senior-manager respondents cited running late to or missing meetings as a common breach, while other faux pas included not responding to calls or emails in a timely manner and gossiping about others.

The findings from the research indicate that being courteous to co-workers has an impact on career success; 65 per cent of managers and 46 per cent of workers say it can accelerate advancement. However, the respondent groups did not see eye to eye when it comes to courtesy and moving up the corporate ladder. Sixty-one per cent of leaders say professionals become more courteous as they advance, but about half of all employees believe politeness declines at executives climb through the ranks.

Many lawyers ignoring cybersecurity risks

New research conducted jointly by the Edith Cowan University’s Security Research Unit and the Law Society of Western Australia suggests lawyers need to become more conscious of cybersecurity protections for clients.

A survey of 122 lawyers reveals that sensitive and confidential client data is at risk of exposure because some lawyers are not up to speed on cybersecurity measures and practices. The findings indicate that just 9.4 per cent of lawyers use encryption to protect client data, 94 per cent use email to send confidential data, and about half forward work-related emails to non-business email addresses on platforms such as Gmail and Hotmail.

About 11 per cent of lawyers do not have anti-virus protection on their work computers, while four in 10 are unaware of what cybersecurity measures are in use on their smartphones.