Here is our summary of the current state of the legal job market:
Locum Recruitment – Very Busy
Shortage of locums prepared to travel into offices to work in all fields of law, particularly conveyancing and wills & probate. It tends to be the travel that puts locums off rather than the actual office environment, as well as the thought of requiring local accommodation for the professional travelling locums. New locums are coming on stream after leaving permanent roles (tends to be in April after giving notice in the New Year), so still availability. Remote working is still a possibility for a significant proportion of firms, but it will be interesting to see whether law firms completely return to office based work or whether options will remain open for some home working. Initial indications are that most firms will require the majority of the week in the office. Increase in demand in all areas of work other than employment and PI. Commercial fields in private practice and in house both picking up.
Locum assignment updates here: https://www.interimlawyers.co.uk/category/locum-solicitor-updates/
Permanent Recruitment – Busy
Busy – we had an exceptionally large number of new vacancies registered during March and the market has shown no signs of slowing down. Whether or not firms are successful in recruiting is another matter – lots of lawyers staying put for the time being and holding off from deliberations on taking a new position unless absolutely necessary. Vacancies have been posted in March for IP, family, commercial contracts, conveyancing (lots), private client, in house counsel, immigration, crime and litigation.
Vacancies can be viewed here: https://ten-percent.co.uk/vacancies/
Law Firms for Sale – Busy
Law firm market still busy. Every firm listed on our website has received an enquiry of some sort since Christmas. Buyers include solicitors leaving larger firms to set up on their own, firms seeking expansion by acquisition and larger businesses buying up multiple law firms.
Full list at https://www.jonathanfagan.co.uk/law-accountancy-firms-for-sale/. For a confidential discussion please ring 01824 780937 and speak to Jonathan Fagan or email jbfagan@ten-percent.co.uk.
Ten Percent Legal Recruitment Statistics
General Statistics for March 2021 (comparison is with March 2020)
New permanent vacancies added: 63 (11)
New locum vacancies added: 70 (22)
New candidates registering: 81 (66)
REC/KPMG UK Job Market Report
(we are members of the panel contributing to this report)
Key Findings
Permanent placements decline again
Temp billings expand only modestly
Upturn in candidate availability slows sharply
Demand for staff broadly stable after drop in January
KPMG Vice Chair Comment:
“Business confidence remained subdued in February, with a further drop in permanent appointments and the lingering pandemic uncertainty still evident. The jobs market remains on hold with hiring decisions stalled, people reluctant to seek new roles and the growth in temporary billings has also slowed. However, it’s encouraging that it’s not seeing the big drop in vacancies or hiring that were seen in the first national lockdown. There’s a long way to go to rebuild confidence in the UK jobs market. But with the Covid roadmap to recovery in place and the Chancellor’s Budget announcement to further support businesses and individuals, there is reason for optimism for the UK’s future workforce.”
