Here is our summary of the current state of the legal job market:
Locum Recruitment – Busy
January has been incredibly busy compared with our usual caseload. New assignment numbers are up over 100%. There is still a huge disparity with locums available to assist remotely and locums willing to travel to work. We have requests from firms across the country looking for assistance solely on an office based requirement and not remote (usually not set up for it), A lot of firms seem to be continuing as normal without remote working, and although clearly not necessarily any pressure on existing staff to work in the office (as per the recent Gazette correspondence on the issue), feedback to us from locums is that most prefer not to. There are plenty of conveyancing and private client locums available for remote work still.
The locum market is not just about conveyancing and private client roles of course – we have seen an increase in commercial litigation, corporate commercial & in house, coupled with a higher than usual demand for family law. Locum assignment updates here: https://www.interimlawyers.co.uk/category/locum-solicitor-updates/
Permanent Recruitment – Busy
It has picked up on the permanent front and the market is buoyant. Firms are registering property, private client and family vacancies with us mainly, although there have been a large number of requests for ad hoc flexible assistance on an ongoing basis. Vacancies can be viewed here: https://ten-percent.co.uk/vacancies/
Law Firms for Sale – Busy
We have fielded quite a few new enquiries from partners thinking about selling. The market is busy and biggest demand at the moment appears to be for ‘shell’ law firms. Full list at https://www.jonathanfagan.co.uk/law-accountancy-firms-for-sale/. For a confidential discussion please ring 01824 780937 and speak to Jonathan Fagan or email jbfagan@ten-percent.co.uk.
Ten Percent Legal Recruitment Statistics – January 2021
General Statistics for January 2021 (comparison is with January 2020)
New permanent vacancies added: 36 (33)
New locum vacancies added: 36 (16)
New candidates registering: 72 (55)
