Hourly Rates of Pay for Locum Solicitors and Legal Executives
Conveyancing rates have crept up a bit over the last four weeks, as we enter the busy period, but they are still low. Conveyancing locums looking for £35 an hour and above will find higher levels of competition still exist with experienced conveyancers still available for around £28-32 per hour. For some firms this is almost certainly going to be the maximum level paid and locums need to bear this in mind…
May 2017 Locum Rates:
Residential Conveyancing Locum Solicitors – 1-5 years PQE, £26-30 per hour (no variation for central London).
Conveyancing Locum Solicitors & ILEX – 5-35 years PQE, handling all levels of conveyancing including managing a department – £28-£35 per hour, including central London.
Commercial Property Solicitors – 1-40 years PQE – £30-45 per hour.
Wills & Probate Solicitors and Legal Executives – 3-35 years PQE – £35-45 per hour. Some locums now charging £55-60 per hour due to shortage.
Family Solicitors – 4-40 years PQE – £24-32 per hour. Occasionally this goes up to £35 per hour for short notice or a few days cover.
Civil Litigation Solicitors and ILEX– 1-35 years PQE. £25-35 per hour. These rates cover mainstream litigation – eg county court and small claims matters.
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 – £26-32 per hour (minimal amounts of work).
Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence – 3+ years PQE – £18-£30 per hour. Work very sporadic.
In House Legal Department Rates: 0-3 years PQE – £22-32 per hour (wide range due to variables in legal department work), 3+ years PQE – £30-75 per hour (very wide range due to the nature of in house work).
Local authority rates: get a pack of cards, cut the pack, select three cards and add them up. 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 (we charge 18%). 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 using the link at the top of this email or simply reply.
Current active locum roles from www.interimlawyers.co.uk (our locum arm) can be found here.
