Here is our summary of the current state of the legal job market:
Permanent Recruitment – Quiet
Still very volatile. One week we get a number of permanent vacancies in – the next very little. In theory the market should follow normal patterns and gradually drop to virtually nothing in the run up to Christmas. However we are not doing ‘normal’ in most things at the moment! We keep hearing about redundancies but no major exodus yet been seen anywhere in the UK. We are hearing from some parts of the country that there is very little work yet in other parts we get partners calling us up to say that they are flat out and as busy as ever. If we could summarise this it would be North = Quiet, South = Busy. One thing is for sure – there are very few desperate job seekers despite the best wishes of some firms wanting to pick up a bargain!
Locum Recruitment – Quiet
Traditionally the market winds down in September, with a slight spurt around October half term, but then very little until April. However as with permanent recruitment everything is completely randomised at the moment! We expect to plod along for the next 4-6 weeks before everything winds down for Christmas. No area of law is very busy and we still have plenty of locum availability. However serious issues in some parts of the country with securing office-based locums. A large number are not willing to work full time in offices and are only prepared to do remote working for some or all of the week.
Law Firms for Sale – Reasonably Busy
Busy. Plenty of bargain hunters – not many bargains. The market remains active across the UK. Still very few distressed firms. Plenty of retirement sales though. For details of current law firms for sale please click here to view our list.
CIPS UK Services Report (we are members of the panel contributing to this report)
Third successive month of growth, albeit at slower rate
Rise in new business linked to improved market conditions
Cost concerns lead to another round of job losses
Report Summary: The UK service sector continued its recent recovery from the sharp downturn related to the start of the pandemic earlier in 2020, with business activity rising for a third successive month. Growth was supported by another upturn in new work amid reports that market conditions continued to improve. However, growth across the services sector
was uneven with gains principally focussed on areas such as business-to-business
services.
Ten Percent Legal Recruitment Statistics – September 2020
General Statistics for September 2020 (comparison is with September 2019)
New permanent vacancies added: 22 (28)
New locum vacancies added: 22 (17)
New candidates registering: 73 (101)
