Skip to main content

Relocating to a legal job hotspot

28.01.07 Firms in some areas of the UK are crying out for lawyers in certain fields - where exactly are they?

When it comes to relocating in the UK, it sometimes helps to have an idea as to where there are solicitors firms in need of lawyers for particular fields of law. Some legal job vacancies tend to be fairly easy to predict, whereas others are a bit more erratic. 

Starting in the South West, there is almost always a shortage of general practice solicitors able to deal with conveyancing and something else. Family solicitors are usually in short supply down there, particularly the further west you go. On the south coast, it again tends to be commercial property solicitors that firms salivate at the sight of, as well as residential property and wills & probate. The latter tends to be quite popular in Sussex, around Eastbourne and further inland. 
In the Wiltshire and Swindon areas, just about every field of law suffers from a shortage, and usually there is a firm somewhere looking at a particular field at one time. 

London is just a hot bed of recruitment for everyone bar immigration solicitors, family solicitors and litigation solicitors. These seem to have been problematic fields since time immemorial, particularly since I have been in recruitment, which is now 7 years. Newly qualifieds seem to struggle as well, although if you move out of central london there are usually posts somewhere. 

Middlesex seems to have a perpetual shortage of experienced property lawyers, and Essex just seems to struggle with everything bar family solicitors. Surrey always has firms looking at the more corporate side, and Kent firms usually pay fairly poorly in comparison with other areas, so recruitment seems to stay busy. 
East Anglia - everything bar family and litigation is always going, and the same for the area around Milton Keynes and Bedford.  The Midlands is so erratic I wouldnt like to comment, and the same applies for the East Midlands, although crime is always good around Nottingham. Yorkshire is always busy in non-contentious work and commercial fields, particularly Hull and Sheffield. 

Manchester, Liverpool and Lancashire usually fairly quiet, as lots of candidates in the areas. Cumbria is good for everything high street wise, particularly solicitors who multi-task. North and South Wales are difficult to predict, and the same for the North East, although we have noticed over the years that firms in Teesside and Tyneside do not like family solicitors much!

If thinking of relocating, get in touch with us for a chat, or alternatively have a read through our relocation reports. Jonathan Fagan, MD of Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment - no.1 online legal recruitment agency - save time, skip the legal job boards and let us do the work - register online at www.ten-percent.co.uk/register.htm 

Comments

Tim Kevan said…
Like the site. I have added a link on The Barrister Blog at http://timkevan.blogspot.com. Reciprocal link always appreciated, though no worries if not. Keep in touch. Best wishes, Tim Kevan

Popular posts from this blog

Overpaid Charity CEOs - top 40 of high paid employees - updated 2022

In 2014, we wrote an article about high pay in the charity sector after the Charity Commission started to require all charities to disclose pay of senior executives earning more than £60,000.    We have updated the list for 2022, with a comparison chart so you can see the difference between 2014 and 2022. We have included the source of the most recent salary levels and the year refers to the accounts year we extracted the salary information from.   2022 Top 40 Chart of High Paying Charities Charity Highest salary Year Consumers’ Association £390k-£400k 2020 MSI Reproductive Choices £240k-£250k 2020 Save the Children International £285k-£300k 2020 Cancer Research UK £240k-£250k 2020 The British Red Cross Society £170k-£180k 2020 Age UK £180k-£190k 202...

Is it possible to work as a Paralegal when you are a Qualified Solicitor

  This question comes up all the time and is quite a common query that we imagine the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) are getting better at answering due to the sheer number of people asking the question. Many years ago the advice seemed a bit varied at times, but we have recently had a candidate who wanted to work in a locum role in the short term and waiting to go back on the Roll and get a practising certificate after some time spent outside the profession. She has been given fairly concise advice on whether she could work as a paralegal whilst waiting to be readmitted which we are repeating here. This article is written as a discussion point and is not intended to be advice in any shape or form. For full advice on your particular set of circumstances please speak to the SRA (or whoever else you like, but please do not depend on the information in this article!). The SRA have a simple online test to determine if you need a practising certificate and th...

What questions are asked in an Investors in People Assessment?

Recently Ten Percent Legal Recruitment was assessed for the investor in people accreditation. We worked very hard on this and spent some time as a company ensuring that all our procedures and policies were in place and that our staff were aware of the various requirements of the Investor in People process. We wondered how the assessment would go and also what the questions were likely to be during the interviews. The assessor was very friendly and explained from the outset what she was wanting to do and we were already aware that we would have thirty minute interviews with the directors and managers and twenty minute interviews with the staff. We also had the Investors in People programme so we were able to look and see what the actual questions would be based on, but there was nowhere to indicate what questions would be asked in the investor in people assessments. So if this helps anyone else, here are the questions we were asked in our investors in people accreditation: The assessor ...