Legal Recruitment – busy market

Each month we run a comparison between the last calendar month and the same time period in 2019 to see if there has been any noticeable difference. In January we saw very little change from 2019 to 2020.

So how was February 2020 compared to February 2019?

We saw a 29% increase in the number of permanent vacancies registered with us, which is a good sign of a busy market. We expect the March statistics to be fascinating. I have not known a start to the month of March before where the phone has stopped ringing during the day – it is one of the busiest months of the year across our companies as clients look to spend budgets before the end of the tax year. This year the phone has hardly rung at all. I am not sure whether law firms are finding this as well, but it has been a very very quiet start to March and we think it is down to Covid-19. I suspect there are other more pressing issues in everyones’ minds than reading CVs or making job applications! There is plenty of work out there – mainly from our well established clients who have worked with us for years if not decades – but new business is down. The market is busy generally, although in house roles are still scarce.

Statistics

General Statistics for February 2020 (comparison is with February 2019)
Current live vacancies: 1008
New permanent vacancies added: 44 (34)
New locum vacancies added: 20 (16)
New candidates registering: 60 (67)

We have 33 law firms for sale at the moment for details of current law firms for sale please click here to view our list.

Candidate Database Statistics – February 2020
London Candidates: 3058
Midlands Candidates: 1198
North East Candidates: 844
North West Candidates: 992
South East England Candidates: 4829
South West England Candidates: 512
Northern Ireland: 22
Scotland: 64
Wales: 395

Hourly Rates of Pay for Locum Solicitors and Legal Executives

March 2020 Locum Solicitor & ILEX Rates

Child Care – £35-45 per hour (very difficult to source locums).
Civil Litigation – £28-35 per hour.
Commercial Contract – £35-75 per hour
Commercial Litigation – £35-75 per hour.
Company Commercial – £45-85 per hour.
Construction (non-contentious) £60-75, (contentious) £45-60 per hour
Conveyancing – £30-37 per hour.
Commercial Property – £35-55 per hour
Employment Solicitors – £30-50 per hour.
Family Solicitors – £30-35 per hour+.
In House Counsel: 0-3 years PQE – £25-40 per hour,
In House Counsel: 3+ years PQE – £45-105 per hour
In House Interim Advisors (SME) – £55-65 per hour
Insolvency – £30-60 per hour.
IP – £50-85 per hour
Local authority rates: variable.
Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence – 3+ years PQE – £25-£40 per hour.
Professional Negligence – £45-55 per hour
Wills & Probate – £35-50 per hour, going up to £55 per hour. Average currently around £40-45. More private client locums available this year.

NB all rates exclude agency fees. The rates are for self-employed locums billing firms directly on a weekly basis.