Legal Recruitment Blog

If you locum through Interim Lawyers and Ten Percent Legal Recruitment, we value your commitment to us immensely. If you take on an assignment and see it through, and consistently do this, then inevitably you will get continued attention from us and be offered repeat assignments. If you decide half-way through an assignment or during an ongoing assignment that you plan to go elsewhere because the money is higher, or the conditions are better, then chances are we will bear this in mind for future assignments and be very wary about putting you forward in advance of other locums with whom we enjoy a more trusting relationship. This may sound somewhat controversial and over simplifies what tends to be a very complicated situation.  For example, the firm you are with may have been extremely vague as to the length of the assignment and you may have been offered a 3 to 4 month assignment elsewhere with specified dates. Similarly, the firm you were with may be utterly dre...

Losing your job without any notice can be one of the most stressful things you will ever experience in your working life. The thought of waking up in the morning without a job, without any money coming in at the end of the month and without anything to do can fill people with horror and cause serious damage to anyone's mental health. So what are the best ways of coping with the unexpected? 1)      Check your finances This may seem like common sense but so many people just panic without actually looking to see how much money they have in the bank, how much they are owed (there are various statutory obligations on the government to support you if you suddenly lose your job and have wages owing) and any likely future expenditure in the next couple of months. Work out how much you are going to need to spend to survive over a period of say three months, and calculate whether you have the money in the bank to cover these overheads. Look at any money yo...

As legal recruiters, we regularly hear of horrific interviews that have gone badly wrong and these are some of the things that people have turned up with and seriously affected their chances of success.  1)    Their Mother. We have actually had instances of candidates turning up to job interviews with their mother in tow and both sitting in the reception area of the company or firm they are interviewing with and becoming the source of great fascination amongst the staff.  Why on earth would anyone take their mother to a job interview?  But it happens. If your mother has given you a lift to the location or offices of the firm you are interviewing with, then park her in the local Costa Coffee. Do not for a second think it is a good idea to let her come into the building with you when you are attending for an interview. It is a terrible idea and one to be avoided like the plague. 2)    A naff carrier bag Your choice of carrier bag c...

It is estimated by a number of different bodies (including CIPD) that the average cost of recruiting a new member of staff at all levels, from junior assistants through to senior executives is over £4,500 plus VAT. This takes into consideration agency fees, training fees, time taken to do the recruitment if not using an agency and the time taken by the new employee to settle into their role before they become productive. Recruitment agency fees can be a considerable chunk of money. At junior level they can range from about 10% through to 20% of the first year's annual salary or package, and at a senior level they can be as much as 35% of the package. Putting this into perspective, if you recruit a chief executive or senior manager on a salary of £100,000, your agency fee could be as much as £35,000 plus VAT. This cost can be prohibitive for small firms and preclude them from even considering using the services of a recruitment agency. But what if there was an alternative t...

Summer 2015 10% Donations - Nominations Needed  It is time for us to take any nominations for our charitable trust - we were due a trustees meeting last month but it has been carried over. We hope to provide continuing support to a number of our existing charities, including the British Stammering Association, LawCare and a school in Tanzania, but apart from this we are open to suggestions. We do not, as a matter of policy, donate to any charity paying staff more than £75k. Email any suggestions to cv@ten-percent.co.uk . About Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment  We are a specialist legal recruiter, covering both permanent and locum roles across the whole of the UK. Over 11,000 lawyers are registered with us and we have access to a range of external and internal job boards and websites where we do not have candidates available ourselves. We also assist with recruitment advice and assistance, regularly advising partners and practice managers on suitable salary and package lev...

Updated Locum Hourly Rates of Pay - August 2015 Hourly Rates of Pay for Locum Solicitors and Legal Executives Locum hourly rate payment varies widely according to the demand, length of assignment, level of experience and advance notice available. Hourly rates go up during the summer (June-September). NB: These rates are intended as a guide only. Hourly rates can vary according to the location, duration and level of expertise. August 2015 Private Practice Law Firm Rates: * Conveyancing Locum Solicitors – 1-5 years PQE, handling residential standard sale price only – £26-30 per hour (slight variation for central London – £29-35 per hour). * Conveyancing Locum Solicitors & ILEX – 5-35 years PQE, handling all levels of conveyancing including managing a department – £30-£40 per hour, including central London. * Commercial Property Solicitors – 1-40 years PQE - £35-50 per hour. * Wills & Probate Solicitors and Executives – 3-35 years PQE – £35-43 per hour. * Fam...

Further Information on the 2015 10% Donations We now have further information from some of the charities we have donated to this year. * Unicef - £100. Hopefully not used to help pay the salary of their rather expensive Chief Executive! * Chester Zoo - £60. Supporting their work with Red Pandas. * LawCare - £1,000. Money to be used in support of their provision of support for bullying in the workplace and disciplinary issues. * Y Care International - £300. The money has been used to support vulnerable young people in Guatemala. * British Stammering Association - £500. Money used to develop their provision to young people who stammer. * Standalone - £200. Money used to create a support group in the Newcastle area. The charity support estranged family members. * Hughes Syndrome Foundation - £100. The money was used to help in creating a GP learning module. * Time Out Group - £200. (suggested by Chafes). Money used to help fund a holiday for adults with learning disabilit...

Our 10% Donations for February 2015 The trustees of the Ten-Percent Foundation (a charitable trust) have met and decided on the following donations for Spring 2015: Knowsley Domestic Violence Service - £1,000. Centre 63, Merseyside - £300. Unicef - £100. Chester Zoo - £60. LawCare - £1,000. Y Care International - £300. British Stammering Association - £500. Ace of Clubs - £500 (suggested by Hanne & Co) Standalone - £200. Hughes Syndrome Foundation - £100 Time Out Group - £200. (suggested by Chafes) St Johns Seminary, Tanzania (providing the funding for 5 students to attend school) - £2,200. Total amount donated so far in 2015 - £6,460. We have a good chunk of money still in the bank and we plan to work out expenditure of this in mid-Summer 2015. We will get details of how the money has been used by each charity and send out details in the next newsletter. Some of the above charities have been suggested by candidates and clients. Others are linked to our trustees...

The Joys and Delights of Recruiting Paralegals Some recruitment agencies (well most actually) charge increased fee structures for higher level appointments. So for example Randstad charge 17% for salaries of less than £20k, 20% for salaries of £30-40k and 25% for salaries of £40k+. We have always charged flat rates regardless of salary, as for some reason it is usually easier dealing with senior solicitors and executives than it is sorting out paralegals. In fact after our last two experiences on paralegal roles I am wondering about turning our fee structure around and charging more to source paralegals and less to recruit solicitors and senior staff. Paralegals are a nightmare. Every time we get a vacancy in for a paralegal I involuntarily shudder.  I know what is coming. Applicants for paralegal roles can be the most wishy-washy, non-committal, half-hearted, barely-interested candidates we have the pleasure to work with. Don't get me wrong. I know the fun and gam...

A Psychic's 2014 New Year Predictions Revisited Last year we carried an article in our January Newsletter about predictions for 2014 by an expert online psychic, Craig Hamilton-Parker (taken from www.psychics.co.uk). We have also included his 2015 predictions below to see how he does when we revisit in 2015. Mr Hamilton-Parker charges £1.53 per minute for his services via telephone consultations. Online Psychic Predictions for 2014 - how many did Craig get right? 1. The Dalai Lama will be taken seriously ill (incorrect). 2. Pope Francis will initiate a new spiritual mission to help the mentally ill (incorrect). 3. Syria will be partitioned into Alawite and Sunni provinces. Assad will go into hiding. (incorrect). 4. Gunman rampage in Kansas. Similar attack on the London underground. (incorrect). 5. Strange luminous plankton seen under the sea that cannot be explained by scientists (incorrect). 6. Remains of an ancient civilisation uncovered in Greenland (incorrect). 7. O...