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Guide to Locum Solicitors Hourly Rates of Pay September 2017

Hourly Rates of Pay for Locum Solicitors and Legal Executives

Although conveyancing rates increased over the last four weeks, we will now see a drop in hourly rates as we get closer to Christmas. September tends to remain fairly high as demand has traditionally still been strong. £35 per hour in Conveyancing is still the norm for most professional locums, although some are now dropping back to £30-32 per hour to get the assignments.

September 2017 Locum Rates :
Residential Conveyancing Locum Solicitors – 1-5 years PQE, £28 per hour (no variation for central London).
Conveyancing Locum Solicitors & ILEX – 5-35 years PQE, handling all levels of conveyancing including managing a department – £30-40 per hour, including central London.
Commercial Property Solicitors – 1-40 years PQE – £35-50 per hour.
Wills & Probate Solicitors and Legal Executives – 3-35 years PQE – £35-45 per hour. August has been a quiet month for wills & probate and there are locums around.
Family Solicitors – 4-40 years PQE – £25-34 per hour.
Civil Litigation Solicitors and ILEX– 1-35 years PQE. £28-35 per hour. These rates cover mainstream litigation.
Commercial Litigation Solicitors – 3+ years PQE – £35-50 per hour. Occasionally this is higher.
Company Commercial Solicitors – 3+ years PQE – £35-70 per hour.
Employment Solicitors – 3+ years PQE – £24-30 per hour (minimal amounts of work).
Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence – 3+ years PQE – £18-£35 per hour. Work very sporadic.
In House Legal Department Rates: 0-3 years PQE – £25-32 per hour (wide range due to variables in legal department work), 3+ years PQE – £30-80 per hour (very wide range due to the nature of in house work).
Local authority rates: write some numbers between 24 and 65 on a piece of paper, close your eyes and point at one. Local authority rates seem to be calculated by total randomness and they remain one of the wonders of the recruitment world…

NB all rates exclude agency fees. The rates are for self-employed locums billing firms directly on a weekly basis. We have over 11,000 lawyers registered with us. To request CVs for a specific vacancy please register your vacancy with us.

 

Jonathan Fagan

Jonathan Fagan LLM FIRP is Managing Director of Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment. He has been recruiting solicitors and legal support staff for law firms and in house legal departments for over 20 years and handles roles from junior fee earners through to partners and law firm sales/purchases. A non-practising solicitor on the Roll since 2000, he is also the author of a number of legal career books, which are available at www.ten-percent.uk. You can contact Jonathan at cv@ten-percent.co.uk