Legal Recruitment Blog

Hello - Sundip has contacted us and asked if he can keep everyone who reads the Legal Recruitment Blog updated with his progress, as well as get support and advice as required. His first post is below: first thing i would like to say is thank you for setting up this blog, its fantastic and very informative. I would like to say, i have decided i will be undertaking the ilex route into the profession. The main reason is because I would like to gain hands on experience and also study at the same time. I have been a special constable for the police for 6 years now, and i feel its time for me to work on the "other side" as they call it, i am fully aware that criminal solicitors do not get paid as much compared to solicitors in other areas, So i am still in a decision as to what field i want to qualify in. But i think most likely it will be the criminal side as I already have advocacy practice being in the police. I would just like to add, what advice would you give me in order to ...

Key points from March survey: Strongest growth of permanent placements since October 1997. Temporary/contract staff billings rose at sharpest rate for thirty-four months. Growth of vacancies eased but remained marked. Further rise in candidate availability. Wages and salaries increased again. This is one of the most positive reports on the recruitment industry for some time, although it has to be said that the strongest growth bit is a little bit of a red herring as the market has been stunted for so long it wouldnt be hard for it to expand rapidly! The main findings for March are: Permanent placements rose at fastest pace for over twelve years... The number of permanent staff appointments made by UK recruitment consultancies increased again in March, with growth picking up to the strongest since October 1997. Higher placements were underpinned by a further expansion of permanent staff vacancies, albeit the slowest in three months. ...while temp billings also increased at sharper rate ...

Do followings actually exist? Difficult question... Yes, on some planets followings do exist. On others, including Earth, 9 times out of 10 they do not exist. A 'following' is an interesting concept. For example, we often get called up by firms requesting a conveyancing solicitor with a following for a particular position. Think about it - how exactly does a conveyancing solicitor get a following? Most people tend to only move houses a maximum of once every five years, if that. Developers tend to go with a firm rather than a particular solicitor, and estate agents now want money to refer customers through to solicitors assuming they do not have their own call centre paralegal run conveyancing operation going on. Another one is for a family solicitor to have a following - again - most people tend to only get divorced once or twice in a lifetime, so how on earth does a family solicitor pick up a following? Commercial litigation, debt recovery, crime and company commercial solicit...

This article is also available on the Ten-Percent site at www.ten-percent.co.uk/weeklyreport.htm March 2010 has been a very good month for Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment and we are now not only optimistic of the market picking up, but also are aware that legal recruitment is back up and running at high speed. We have watched as vacancies are suddenly grinding to a halt in some areas, particularly for duty solicitors and family panel members, as there is a lack of fresh talent coming onto the market. In March we had 37 vacancies posted for a whole range of different areas including Conveyancing, Commercial Property, Wills & Probate, Crime (lots), Family (lots), Industrial Disease, Personal Injury, Agricultural Property, Housing, Child Care and Civil Litigation. Commercial still seems to be running at a fairly slow speed. We could go down the route of other agencies and post the generic mailing lists with commercial posts in that some of the bigger firms send out to 100 recruiters an...