I’m a solicitor with five years PQE – what should I do next?
Reading Time: 5 minutes5 years PQE solicitors – what to do next. Article from Jonathan Fagan MD at Ten Percent Legal Recruitment.
Staying in Your Job
Four Day Working Weeks – Can They Work?
Reading Time: 7 minutes4 day working weeks – how do they work, what are the key considerations. Article from Ten Percent Legal Recruitment on 4 day working weeks.
Career Planning – Fine Tune your Career
Reading Time: 4 minutesFine tuning your career. 10 top tips from Ten Percent Legal Recruitment & Interim Lawyers for career planning.
Making strategic career decisions for lawyers – create a career plan
Reading Time: 3 minutesAdvice on career plans for solicitors from Jonathan Fagan, Director of Ten Percent Legal Recruitment.
Changing from conveyancing to a life of crime – a good idea?
Reading Time: 3 minutesChanging from conveyancing to crime – a good idea? Advice for solicitors changing practice areas from Ten Percent Legal Recruitment.
I’m at a crossroads in my career, I’m 10 years qualified, and I’m fed up in my job. What should I do?
Reading Time: 4 minutesFed up with your legal career? An article packed full of advice for solicitors thinking about changing jobs or making a career move. Ten Percent Legal
How much does it cost to become a partner of a law firm?
Reading Time: 4 minutesCost of becoming a law firm partner. Article by Ten Percent Legal Recruitment and Jonathan Fagan Business Brokers.
What is a reasonable pay rise?
Reading Time: 3 minutesWhat is a reasonable pay rise? Article from the Ten Percent Group, specialists for solicitors and legal executives.
How to negotiate a pay rise and how to deal with a request for a pay rise
Reading Time: 4 minutesHow to negotiate a pay rise and how to deal with a request for a pay rise – article by Ten Percent Legal Recruitment for solicitors and employers.
Getting More Work
Reading Time: 4 minutesWe took a call a few weeks ago from a sole practitioner specialising in employment law and some other forms of litigation. He explained that his caseload was such that although he had enough work for two or three days per week he was looking for a way of increasing his working week and his…
Never accept a counter offer from your current employer after you hand in your notice
Reading Time: 3 minutesRecruitment rule 223: Never, ever return to an employer you have just told that you will be leaving. Here’s the scenario; you get despondent at work and decide to look around for a new job. A firm offer you a role after you have attended interviews, you like the look of the new company, they…
Dangling Partnership Carrots
Reading Time: 2 minutesDangling the carrot of a partnership when being offered a job or at an annual review is either because: 1. The firm genuinely like you, are genuinely nice and genuinely see a long term future for you at the practice. Partnership is a good way of cementing your relationship and committing you to the business…
Fake News – is there a Shortage of Conveyancing Locums vs Wills & Probate Locum Solicitors?
Reading Time: 3 minutesCandidate Shortages in Wills & Probate and Conveyancing – myths and legends As I write this brief article, I can reflect that I could probably have written the same article in any year between 2011 and 2017. In fact if you are reading this in 20 years’ time, and Donald Trump hasn’t ended the world…
in Careers Advice, Changing Jobs, Job Applications, Legal Profession, Newly Qualified Solicitors, Staying in Your Job
Should I leave when I qualify? The dilemna for Newly Qualified – 1 year PQE Solicitors
Reading Time: 4 minutesShould I Stay or Should I Go? In April every year we are regularly contacted by newly qualified and 1 year PQE (post-qualification experience) solicitors who ask the following questions: 1. Should I stay with my training law firm for at least 2 years when I qualify? 2. How much should I get paid? 3.…
in Careers Advice, Changing Jobs, Newly Qualified Solicitors, Staying in Your Job, Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience
Changing Solicitors Firms during a Training Contract
Reading Time: 3 minutesWe sometimes get queries from trainee solicitors asking if it is possible to change law firms during a training contract, and whether they ought to do it. Our advice is always the same; jump through the burning hoop of the training contract with as minimal fuss as possible and only change law firm if your…
How to Cut a Better Deal with your Current Firm and Stay Put
Reading Time: 3 minutesHow to cut a better deal with your current firm Working in a solicitors firm and getting paid the salary or package you feel you deserve are very often quite separate points. You probably accepted a salary offered when you first started with the firm some time ago and have seen little movement since. Indeed,…
Becoming a Legal Expert in 10,000 Hours – is it really achievable?
Reading Time: 2 minutes10,000 Hours Theory – can it work? At the moment there is a journalist who is trying out the above theory – is it possible to put in 10,000 hours and turn into an expert? – article is on the BBC website – here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26384712. The journalist has given up the day job and taken…
Should I Stay or Should I Go? Updated Advice to Criminal Duty Solicitors
Reading Time: 6 minutesShould I stay or should I go? Crime Job Market Report I hope this article assists crime solicitors and does not depress anyone too much. It is a reflection of the harsh reality of crime regardless of the latest government interference in funding. Each time we get close to new contract deadlines or the next…
in Careers Advice, Changing Jobs, Job Applications, Staying in Your Job, Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience
I Want to Get Out of Law And Am Completely Fed Up – Help!
Reading Time: 3 minutesI want to get out of law and am completely fed up, what can I do? This relates to a number of queries that have come into the Ten Legal Careers Centre over the last six months, although the level of enquiries of this nature has dropped (excluding crime solicitors). Redundancy or threat of redundancy…
Ten Ways to Get Fired
Reading Time: 5 minutes10 Ways to Get Fired Not that this comes up very often, but it is harder to get fired from a job than you would imagine. That said, a recent experience with an employer in North Wales indicates that it is possible to be fired for wearing a pink shirt, getting pregnant (the same employer…
in Changing Jobs, Legal Profession, Staying in Your Job, Training Contracts, Pupillage and Work Experience
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…
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?…
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…
Career Planning
Reading Time: 2 minutes“I’ve heard a lot of talk about career paths – what should I be doing about this, and is it a good idea to plan 5 years in advance when working in a law firm?” It is very hard to know what a legal career is all about when you start out in law. Firstly…
Can you be a millionaire or very rich and work as a solicitor?
Reading Time: 2 minutesI have recently been reading a load of books on investment, personal wealth management and similar titles, and have discovered that there are a lot of different strategies for creating your own financial stability. All the advice appears to point to either having a job or business on the side, or to conduct investment at…
How to Survive the Recession, a guide for lawyers
Reading Time: 2 minutesSurviving a recession is a little like writing a blog – you have to constantly look at your save button to ensure you dont lose any work as I have just lost this article and am now retyping it! Top tips are: 1. Make sure you are invaluable to your firm. Even if you are…
Partnership Prospects
Reading Time: 2 minutesOnce the holy grail of career ambitions, partnership is not as important to a lot of lawyers for a number of reasons; firstly solicitors these days are often more interested in quality of life and spending time out of the office doing other things such as sleeping, eating and breathing. Secondly a increasingly larger proportion…
Annual Reviews for Lawyers
Reading Time: 2 minutesAnnual reviews & and salary reviews are one area of practice that a lot of lawyers deal with poorly as they fail to prepare for them, and do not appreciate the opportunity you have when attending them. Annual reviews can consist of an apologetic partner ticking boxes on a pre-printed form, whether to simply add…