Legal Job Market Reports

Reading Time: 2 minutesSummary February has been the usual mixed month – shorter by a few days and interspersed with skiing holidays! The effect it has on recruitment is the same every year – the market goes quiet for about 10 days and then gets busy again for March as we approach the end of the financial year.…

Reading Time: 2 minutesSummary January 2018 has been the busiest January on record for us since we started 18 years ago. All sectors have been busy – locum and permanent, qualified and non-qualified. There has been a surge in demand for solicitors in all areas of law, although we have heard from partners at London firms reporting that…

Reading Time: 2 minutesLegal Job Market Report Summary November has been a quiet month again, but this is fairly normal as we approach Christmas. We will be writing the same thing for December! Locum assignments have actually picked up a bit, which is unusual, but permanent roles remain down. The increase in conveyancing candidates last month has now…

Reading Time: 2 minutesRates have now decreased slightly as we get closer to Christmas – we expect them to go down further still. Up to £35 per hour in Conveyancing is still the norm for most locums, although a good proportion are dropping to £28-32 per hour to get the assignments. November 2017 Locum Rates : Residential Conveyancing…

Reading Time: 2 minutesSummary October has been a quiet month again, which is fairly normal but the legal job market seems very subdued at the moment. We are active in both legal & accountancy recruitment and accountancy is currently booming so quite a contrast! Locum assignments have dropped (as is usual for this time of year) and permanent…

Reading Time: 3 minutesLegal Job Market Report Key points from 2nd September to 4th October 2017 are as follows: ▪ Permanent recruitment has increased. ▪ Locum recruitment has decreased. Hourly rates have decreased in line with the seasonal norm. ▪ Commercial and In House roles have picked up. ▪ Wills and Probate is quieter but locum and permanent…

Reading Time: 3 minutesKey points from 13th July to 6th September 2017 are as follows: ▪ Permanent recruitment has decreased. ▪ Locum recruitment has increased. Hourly rates have increased over the summer but will now decline. ▪ Commercial and In House roles have picked up. ▪ Wills and Probate is quieter but locum and permanent candidates remain very…

Reading Time: 3 minutesLegal Job Market Report Key points from 7th June to 12th July 2017 are as follows: ▪     Permanent recruitment has increased. ▪     Locum recruitment has drastically increased. Hourly rates have inevitably increased! ▪     Commercial and In House roles are picking up slightly. ▪     Wills and Probate is quieter but locum and…

Reading Time: 3 minutesThe demand for staff generally has stayed the same. Permanent recruitment has decreased. Locum recruitment has decreased. Hourly rates are starting to increase in line with seasonal variations. Commercial and In House roles are picking up slightly. Wills and Probate is quieter but locum and permanent candidates remain very much in demand. Conveyancing is quieter…

Reading Time: 3 minutesLegal Job Market Report – May 10th 2017 Key points from 5th April to 10th May 2017 as follows: * The demand for staff generally has stayed the same. * Permanent recruitment has decreased slightly. * Locum recruitment has increased and hourly rates have gone up slightly. * Wills and Probate locum and permanent roles…

Reading Time: 4 minutesLegal Job Market Update Key points from 1st March to 4th April 2017 as follows: * The demand for staff generally has increased. * Permanent recruitment has increased. * Locum recruitment has increased but hourly rates are still lower in some areas. * Wills and Probate locum and permanent roles have dropped off but private…

Reading Time: 3 minutesLegal Job Market Update Key points from February 2017 as follows: * The demand for staff generally has increased in line with the seasonal norm. * Permanent recruitment has increased. * Locum recruitment has increased but hourly rates have dropped in some areas. * Wills and Probate locum and permanent roles have dropped off a…

Reading Time: 3 minutesLegal Job Market Update February 2017 Key points from January 2017 as follows: * The demand for staff generally has increased in line with the seasonal norm. * Permanent recruitment has increased. * Locum recruitment has increased. * Wills and Probate locum and permanent roles have stayed relatively busy and private client solicitors remain in…

Reading Time: 3 minutesLegal Job Market Update – January 11th 2017 Key points for December as follows: * The demand for staff generally has fallen in line with the seasonal norm. * Permanent recruitment has dropped. * Locum recruitment has fallen. * Wills and Probate locum and permanent roles have stayed relatively busy and private client solicitors remain…

Reading Time: 3 minutesLegal Job Market Update Key points for November as follows: * The demand for staff generally has fallen in line with the seasonal norm. * Permanent recruitment has fallen slightly but remains high. * Locum recruitment has fallen and remains at a lower level. * Family Solicitors, particularly any with LAA experience, remain few and…

Reading Time: 3 minutesLegal Job Market Update – November 2016 President Trump, Brexit and England knocked out of Euro 2016 by Iceland. Who would have thought it (apart from the latter of course)… The year of uncertainty continues! STOP PRESS – Expert Comment on the Trump win by Professor Stadler from Warwick University (received 10 mins ago as…

Reading Time: 2 minutesLegal Job Market Update September 2016 has been a very mixed month, with heavy bursts of work intertwined with plenty of opportunities for DIY outside in glorious sunshine! The legal job market remains very unbalanced. Key points for September as follows: ▪ The demand for Residential Conveyancing locum lawyers remains low although it has picked…

Reading Time: 4 minutesLegal Job Market Update – September 6th 2016 The legal job market has been very interesting indeed over the last 8 weeks (our last report was on July 6th). Brexit, the Olympics, the Euro 2016 tournament and lots of annual leave for everyone has had an impact on recruitment. What changes have we seen since…

Reading Time: 4 minutesLegal Job Market Update from Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment – post Brexit – July 6th June 2016. What a month. I suspect it will always be remembered as the month when something fairly seismic occurred, but quite what this will be is another matter! Will it be remembered as the start of the UK’s exit from…

Reading Time: 2 minutesHourly Rates of Pay for Locum Solicitors and Legal Executives Locum hourly rate payment varies widely according to the demand, length of assignment, level of experience and advance notice available. NB: These rates are intended as a guide only. Hourly rates can vary according to the location, duration and level of expertise. June 2016 Private…

Reading Time: 3 minutesLegal Job Market Update – June 9th 2016 May was, as ever, a busy month. Despite the concerns about the property market dropping off after the changes to Stamp Duty the demand for property lawyers has continued across the board. Newly Qualified Solicitors with training contracts finishing this summer are starting to register en masse…

Reading Time: 3 minutesLegal Job Market Update – May 2016 As usual April was a quiet time for us. It coincides with the joys of the end of the tax year, Easter, school holidays and the run up to May Day Bank Holiday. This year has been busier than usual, not because of any major influx of new…

Reading Time: 3 minutesLegal Job Market Update – April 2016 March has been a busy month in part, but the Easter break has had an effect as ever on recruitment. It is always interesting how every Easter firms leave locum recruitment until the last minute and then start hunting for cover on Maundy Thursday! Most locums have the…

Reading Time: 2 minutesLegal Job Market Update March 2016 February has been a month of two halves again (I say this every year). We spend the first week watching the post-Christmas recruitment spike recede and then skiing holidays together with half term breaks kicking in. Locum work has picked up towards the end of the month. Permanent vacancies…

Reading Time: 2 minutesJob Market Report dated 2nd February – also published in the Legal Recruitment News at www.legal-recruitment.co.uk. January 2016 has been a busy month in the sense that it has included a large number of permanent vacancies posted; the usual burst of activity after Christmas. Very often this is caused by the partners at firms having…

Reading Time: 2 minutesLegal Job Market Update December to January is a difficult time to give a job market update for. Basically just about everyone is off enjoying the festive season and very little happens! Locum requirements were up on previous years and some permanent recruitment occurred, but very little really to give any indication on the state…

Reading Time: 4 minutesLegal Job Market Update November has been a mixed month, with the usual locum assignments ending as work drops off for Christmas and permanent roles increasing. We have started to see the longer term locum roles coming through and some unexpected permanent recruitment – maternity leave cover and departing candidates contributing to this. The demise…

Reading Time: 3 minutesLegal Job Market Update September has been a busy month, much busier than expected, particularly on legal support roles. The Rugby World Cup has not had the same impact that Football tournaments have on recruitment business (the FIFA World Cup virtually puts a hold on permanent recruitment for 2-3 weeks!). Still a good number of…

Reading Time: 2 minutesLegal Job Market Update August has been fairly predictable – plenty of locum roles coming in, a few permanent positions starting to be registered (this will pick up in September) and still a busy legal job market. It has been very difficult to source conveyancers for immediate starts over the summer, but we have availability…

Reading Time: 3 minutesLegal Job Market Update – August 5th 2015. This is our first update since the start of June, so the job market report covers two months. June and July are very busy times for us, both on the locum side and permanent. The locum side remains very busy going into August. Conveyancing and commercial property…