ABSTRACT

Lawyers in many jurisdictions are ageing, and yet there is little information concerning the age profile of the legal profession. This paper presents the first consideration of the age profile of lawyers outside of the US, showing that Australian lawyers are ageing and delaying retirement. These findings have serious implications. Problems associated with a growing proportion of older lawyers include an increasing risk of lawyers suffering from age-related cognitive and physical impairment, and the related rise of complaints and malpractice claims against older lawyers. It is also clear that the Australian legal profession is unprepared to address these problems. The legal profession has ignored important gender-specific implications of ageing, such as female lawyers experiencing menopause and the lower savings of female lawyers moving into retirement. Regulatory regimes have not considered the impact of the profession's ageing profile, and there is no mandatory reporting of lawyers suffering from age-related impairment or provisions should a lawyer die. The profession also has not provided strategies to positively transition lawyers into retirement, and there is a lack of flexible working arrangements and succession planning, especially in firms located outside urban centres.

摘要

许多司法管辖区的律师正在老龄化，但关于法律职业的年龄概况的信息却很少。本文首先考虑了美国以外律师的年龄概况，表明澳大利亚律师正在老龄化和延迟退休。这些发现具有严重的意义。与越来越多的老年律师相关的问题包括律师遭受与年龄相关的认知和身体损伤的风险增加，以及对老年律师的投诉和渎职索赔的相关增加。同样清楚的是，澳大利亚法律界没有准备好解决这些问题。法律界忽视了老龄化对性别的重要影响，例如经历更年期的女律师和即将退休的女律师的较低储蓄。监管制度没有考虑到职业老龄化的影响，也没有强制报告律师遭受与年龄有关的损害或律师死亡时的规定。该行业也没有提供积极地将律师过渡到退休的策略，并且缺乏灵活的工作安排和继任计划，尤其是在位于城市中心以外的公司中。