Ten Percent Legal Recruitment

in Changing Jobs, Legal Profession, Staying in Your Job, Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience on 13/01/2012 by Jonathan Fagan

How to Dramatically Improve your Legal Career Prospects

Reading Time: 3 minutesThis article is divided into three sections. The first is for law students, the second is for graduates and the third is for qualified lawyers, solicitors and legal staff. How do I Dramatically Improve my Legal Career Prospects? We often get asked this question and people are often expecting an easy answer. It depends on…

in Legal Job Market Reports on 03/01/2012 by Jonathan Fagan

Legal Job Market Report January 3rd 2012

Reading Time: 2 minutesNovember was a very busy month for Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment. We had over 20 firms sign up to our £60 per month service from 1st November to December 20th and post over 50 vacancies between them. Part of this growth was fuelled by the need to recruit LSC family supervisors for the new contracts. There…

in Employers on 14/12/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

Law Firm Members Newsletter

Reading Time: 4 minutesGood afternoon and welcome to the first newsletter from Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment for members of our new (not so new now!) £60 legal recruitment service. It has been a very busy end to the year and we now have a large number of firms signed up to use our £60 legal recruitment service. This newsletter…

in CV Writing on 23/11/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

US Legal CVs compared to UK Legal CVs

Reading Time: 3 minutesWe have recently taken an order from a US client looking for a CV to use with UK law firms and to present a CV in a way the UK law firms would understand it. Ten Percent Legal Recruitment & Careers Services have been assisting US, Australian, Chinese, New Zealand lawyers for many years with…

in Employers, Legal Profession on 07/11/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

Family Panel and Resolution Accredited Specialists

Reading Time: 2 minutesOne of our senior candidates has been in touch this morning to point out a slight issue that keeps coming up in adverts both on our site and job boards. “I have been looking at family vacancies on the web and noticed that some vacancies refer to Family Panel Members or Resolution Accredited Specialists. I…

in CV Writing on 03/11/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

How to Write a Good Personal Profile Section on a CV

Reading Time: 2 minutesThe first thing to say about a personal profile section is that if you have nothing to say, the best personal profile section for you would be an empty one and the space used more effectively for something else. You only need a personal profile section to explain about six points. These are 1. Your…

in Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience on 03/11/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

3rd class law degree from overseas university

Reading Time: 2 minutesLegal Careers Question : I have a 3rd Class Degree from the University of Ife in Nigeria. I have no legal work experience in the UK and I am not qualified. What are my prospects of finding work? Answer: I think that your chances of finding work are just above 0 %. A 3rd Class…

in Salary Reviews, Staying in Your Job on 03/11/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

I have been offered Salaried Partnership – should I take it?

Reading Time: 3 minutes“Recently my firm have offered me a role as a salaried partner and informed me that I am being promoted. My salary will remain the same because they cannot afford a paying fee but I will be invited to partnership meetings and asked to assist with the management of the firm. What should I do?…

in Legal Job Market Reports on 01/11/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

Legal Job Market Report November 2011

Reading Time: 2 minutes1st November 2011 October has been a very busy month in legal recruitment. Traditionally the Autumn is the busiest time of year for recruitment, tailing off as we get towards Christmas. During October the job advertisement levels in the Law Society Gazette have reflected the level of business we have been doing. Some weeks the…

in Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience on 12/10/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

Should I do the Legal Practice Course part-time or full-time?

Reading Time: < 1 minuteGood question. This really depends on your career plans. Our advice is always to get the Legal Practice Course over and done with as quickly as possible if you can afford to. Completing the Legal Practice Course LPC part-time or by distance learning is only really relevant if you have to work whilst you are…

in Careers Advice, Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience on 12/10/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

Where should I do my Legal Practice Course?

Reading Time: < 1 minuteEvery year we get asked this question by lots of different students wondering whether they should go to the College of Law or complete their LPC (Legal Practice Course) with another provider. We think that unless you have an outstanding academic background and it is looking as if you will be heading for a large…

in CV Writing, Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience on 12/10/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

How Should I send a Legal CV to Law Firms?

Reading Time: 2 minutesIf you are making an application for a legal job or speculatively approaching a law firm for any type of position including solicitor work or paralegal/work experience, you need to make a decision on how you send your details over. Do you need to handwrite a covering letter, send a covering email or print out…

in Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience on 12/10/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

Dear Ten-Percent, I want to get on in law. Can you help me? From a Law Student

Reading Time: 2 minutesThis is a very common email and telephone call to our offices. Firstly, if you are sending emails to legal recruitment agencies asking for advice and assistance you may be surprised to find out that most of them will not respond to you. Legal recruitment agencies have much better things to do than reply to…

in Changing Jobs, Interviews, Newly Qualified Solicitors, Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience on 12/10/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

An interview with Jonathan Fagan, Solicitor, Legal Recruitment Consultant and Career Coach

Reading Time: 4 minutesQ Why do you offer career coaching to lawyers and law students? Good question! Together with 3 other lawyers I set up Ten Percent Legal Recruitment back in April 2000. Within a few months we were being bombarded with CVs from law students and graduates desperate for training contracts and work experience. We obviously could…

in Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience on 12/10/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

I am a Law Student Looking for Work, can you help?

Reading Time: 2 minutesNo. We can’t help and you may be surprised to know that we will be quite annoyed if you telephone us. We have warnings all over our website detailing who we can help and how we can help and sometimes the sheer volume of students and law graduates without any work experience calling us overwhelms…

in Legal Job Market Reports on 04/10/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

Legal Job Market Report 4th October 2011

Reading Time: 2 minutesThis month has been a busy one. Despite the stock markets continuing to yo-yo up and down, financial crises bounding and the continued uncertainty about change in the structure of the legal profession, firms are recruiting. One of the main areas in recent weeks has been Family Law. The Legal Services Commission have yet again…

in Interviews, Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience on 09/09/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

How Do Training Contract Interviews Vary when with Partners or HR Managers

Reading Time: 2 minutesI was asked yesterday about the likely interview style and questions to be thrown at someone from a city law firm during a pre-selection day interview. This was to be with the HR Manager of the firm and would last for about 30 minutes. Does it matter who takes a legal job interview and is…

in Legal Job Market Reports on 06/09/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

Legal Job Market Report 6th September 2011

Reading Time: 2 minutesLegal Job Market Report 6th September 2011 August has not been a good month for legal recruitment until the last week. Unsurprisingly, partners seem to have a lot more on their mind at this time of year, including holidays and cutting the grass. It did not help that the international money markets have decided to…

in Legal Job Market Reports on 02/08/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

Legal Job Market Report 2nd August 2011

Reading Time: 2 minutesLegal Job Market Report 2nd August 2011 Still blowing hot and cold, the job market in July is still showing conflicting signs. One day we get 3-4 vacancies posted for similar fields (for example last week we had four litigation posts in the South West all posted on the same day) and others we get…

in Job Applications, Legal Profession, Relocation on 26/07/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

Advice for Australian Lawyers looking to work in the UK

Reading Time: 3 minutesI am sure in Australia lawyers often see adverts from recruitment agents telling them of shortages in the legal profession in the UK and particularly law fields. This has been the case in years gone past in the Law Society Gazette in England and Wales. Adverts are still around now for law firms looking for…

in Legal Job Market Reports on 18/07/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

Legal Job Market Report 13th July 2011

Reading Time: < 1 minuteThe job market in June has shown conflicting signs. At various intervals we have picked up vacancies from good, reputable firms, looking to pay salaries and not after a following which rarely exists in the profession. At other times it has been very quiet. Conveyancing is clearly making a comeback (again) and we are starting…

in Job Applications, Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience on 29/06/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

How Badly do you want a Training Contract? Test Yourself

Reading Time: 4 minutesPeople often get in touch to say that they are looking for a training contract and will do anything to get one. Really? I can almost guarantee that in the majority of these cases if we were to push them further on this they would not have walked up and down high streets banging on…

in Careers Advice, Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience on 29/06/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

How to Improve your Chances of Getting a Training Contract

Reading Time: 4 minutesWe regularly get calls from graduates and paralegals wanting us to find them work or work experience and we give the same answer pretty much every time. You cannot phone recruitment agencies and expect them to find you meaningful employment if you do not have any experience and nothing to offer a potential employer. All…

in Employers, Interviews, Job Applications on 24/06/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

Taking Up References

Reading Time: 3 minutesThe decision to give references is sometimes quite complicated. Firms have requested references before second interviews, including requests to speak to current employers (!) and colleagues. Alternatively some firms ask for references prior to first interview. Others have waited until a solicitor has commenced work and two weeks later asked for a reference. Two incidents…

in Changing Jobs, Interviews on 24/06/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

Job Offers – how to decide

Reading Time: 3 minutesA recent dilemna arose for a solicitor looking to take a fairly senior post in the North of England. He had two offers, as well as an additional firm interested. One firm were very friendly, a reasonable size, good working conditions, excellent career prospects from the outset including possible partnership. Their location was not the…

in Employers, Staying in Your Job on 24/06/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

Work Life Balance

Reading Time: 2 minutesWork/Life Balance seems to become a particularly important issue once solicitors get to about 3 years PQE, and realise that there is life beyond work, and other issues such as rearing a family, paying a mortgage and buying a house come into play. The legal profession as a whole suffers from a poor attitude towards the…

in Employers on 24/06/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

Making Low Job Offers

Reading Time: 2 minutesSome firms seem very pleased at times when a candidate accepts an offer that is considerably below the market rate but we think this is a false economy. I can think of two firms in recent times who have been aware of a candidate’s limited geographical search area, or perhaps their requirement for supervision for…

in Changing Jobs, Employers, Legal Profession on 24/06/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

Lawyers returning to work after children

Reading Time: 2 minutesIt is apparently the case that mothers returning to work after starting a family suffer the highest employment penalty of any group (Equalities Review). Mothers with children under 11 are 37% less likely to be offered a job than equivalent males. Single mums suffer even worse figures – rising to above 40%. Firms should not…

in Employers, Legal Profession on 24/06/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

Lack of Quality Candidates or Just Low Pay?

Reading Time: 2 minutesFirms who regularly complain that there is a lack of quality out there and no candidates applying for their jobs, are often the same firms who offer rates of pay so low a solicitor cannot get a mortgage above £60k! I regularly read about the shortage in good quality staff, and also get called by…

in Employers on 24/06/2011 by Jonathan Fagan

How to be a Nice Boss at Christmas

Reading Time: 2 minutes1. Don’t throw things at your staff. Particularly the Law Society Conveyancing Handbook – it hurts! 2. Don’t get drunk at the Christmas party – this always leads to consequences remembered for decades afterwards. Whether this involves rambling incoherently about how useless one of your staff is, or some minor act of vandalism, your colleagues…