The Silent Lunch Series #3

*PLEASE NOTE, that registering for a ticket does not guarantee a seat. We will review your application before confirming*

What is it?

Meet the architects: The Silent Lunch Series is an intimate, two-hour, “silent conference” in Sandton where 100 senior legal industry professionals will gather each month, and rotate through four focused 20–25 minute sessions each time. Each session runs simultaneously in its own zone, and guests listen via wireless headsets while enjoying complimentary coffee, tea, water, and snacks. Every 25 minutes, you move to the next zone, until you have heard all 4 speakers. Then pick up some complementary snacks and head back to the office.

When is it? Lunch number 3

The third silent lunch conference is between 12pm - 2pm on Thursday 20th August 2026 and is being held in the atrium of the WeWork, 155 West St, Sandton.

Lunch 3 – Gen Z, Purpose and Pay

Theme: Gen Z and Alpha talent - expectations, values and compensation

Target market: HR Directors, Talent/People leads, Graduate Recruitment, Branding/Marketing

Value Proposition

Gen Z lawyers (born 1997–2012) are now flooding the market, and their expectations around transparency, flexibility, purpose and mental health are colliding with legacy pay structures and billable-hour cultures. Firms that ignore these shifts will lose the talent war. This lunch equips HR and talent leaders with data on what Gen Z really wants, how to redesign your EVP without breaking the bank, and how social media and employer brand now drive who will even apply to your firm.

Four Topics

1. What Gen Z lawyers really want: Data on flexibility, purpose, transparency, mental health and how that collides with traditional lockstep and billable-hour models.
2. Radical transparency: The case for publishing salary bands, bonus criteria and promotion paths - and how to do it without blowing up internal equity.
3. EVP for 2030: Designing an employer value proposition (pay, flexibility, impact, tech, culture) that wins the best trainees and laterals in a tight market.
4. Social media, employer brand and pay narrative: How online perception (Glassdoor, LinkedIn, TikTok) now drives talent decisions and what to do about it.

Where is it?

WeWork, 155 West St, Sandton. Go to the front entrance, ask for the Silent Lunch, and they will show you where we are.

Cost?

Zero for attendees

Who will attend?

Depending on the monthly theme, the audience could be Legal Industry professionals at every level. From students, candidate attorneys, associates, advisors, and counsel to legal technologists, founders of AI ventures, marketers, senior partners, GCs, CFOs, and CEOs.

Why attend?

1. High value, zero fluff
2. Curated lunchtime sessions on pay, careers and AI that directly affect bonuses, promotions, hiring and retention.
3. Four punchy briefings in two hours, with direct access to experts who see what’s working across firms and in-house teams.
4. Deep focus, no noise
5. Silent headsets supplied, short 20–25 minute talks, and intimate 25-person zones keep the content sharp, practical and easy to engage with.
6. Low-pressure, lunch-time format
7. Running 12–2pm in Sandton, so you don’t lose a billable afternoon or a travel day.
8. Coffee, tea, water, snacks and natural networking through zone rotations make it feel more like a small-room briefing than a formal conference.
9. Real, usable takeaways and strategies shared.
10. Every session answers “what should we change in the next 6–12 months?” on remuneration, training and careers, while 100 delegates rotate through all four zones benchmarking and sharing ideas.

For Sponsorship Opportunities, contact Sue Smith on [email protected]