Legal Job Market Report

Summary

January 2018 has been the busiest January on record for us since we started 18 years ago. All sectors have been busy – locum and permanent, qualified and non-qualified. There has been a surge in demand for solicitors in all areas of law, although we have heard from partners at London firms reporting that conveyancing lawyers are being peddled by the bucket load by a number of other recruitment agencies after large scale redundancies at a couple of volume operators in the capital. We haven’t heard this ourselves and I am not aware of any firms reducing headcount.

Law Firms Wanted and For Sale
17011435 Conveyancing Solicitors Firm based in Greater London looking to explore options for sale.
15111344 Well established high street law firm with 2 offices in Middlesex looking to take on a partner, sell or merge due to retirement of partners. The practice undertakes family work, conveyancing and probate. 40% family and children work, 20% conveyancing and 35% probate and estate management. Longstanding leasehold premises available.
Ref 25101117 Birmingham law firm – immigration and family law looking for a merger, particularly with a larger practice if possible.
Ref 06111648 Reading firm looking to buy or merge with other practices. Happy to look at options. Smaller sized high street firms likely.
Ref 21090941 Leicester law firm looking for a sale. 5 staff, £150k turnover. Litigation firm, well established.
Ref 20092238 West Midlands law firm looking to buy up small practices and sole practitioners in the area. Funds in place to expand.
Ref 08061231 Buyer looking to purchase will banks in London and Home Counties.
Ref 04071347 Buyer looking to purchase a solicitors firm with a crime or family legal aid contract in Beds, Bucks, Northants or Herts.

Hourly Rates of Pay for Locum Solicitors and Legal Executives

Rates are now at their lowest levels, but will start to go up as we get into Spring. Bookings for the summer are at summer rates. Up to £35 per hour in Conveyancing is still the norm for most locums, although the current competitive level for longer term assignments are £30.

Click here for full rates for January 2018.

Discrimination in Recruitment – is it rife?

I write this article from a personal perspective and it is an expression of opinion only. I often get asked by candidates if they think firms discriminate against them and this article is about our experiences of behaviour that is both overt and implied.

Discrimination against Law Firms
Law firms often think that as recruiters we have a special list of candidates that we only introduce to our favourite clients and not any old Tom, Dick and Harry. This is incorrect. Such a list does not exist. What does exist is a database showing us exactly what type of firm a candidate is looking to work for, in which location and at what price. Often smaller law firms confuse this for some kind of discrimination against them on the grounds of size.

Permanent Vacancies in last 14 days

To search our current vacancies please visit https://www.ten-percent.co.uk/vacancies/. Vacancies in the last 14 days are as follows:

VAC-17639 Litigation Solicitor A medium to large sized West Midlands firm are looking for a litigation lawyer to manage a varied caseload of commercial and civil litigation work at their Tamworth office.

VAC-17638 Legal Accounts Manager A medium to large sized West Midlands firm are looking for a legal accounts manager to work at their Tamworth office.

VAC-17637 Dispute Resolution Ombudsman A government approved Ombudsman is looking for a law graduate to work as an Ombudsman at their busy offices in Stevenage. The role will be full-time, permanent and salary will be around the 25k mark.

VAC-17633 Duty Solicitor An established law firm with offices across the Kent region have an opening for a full time, salaried, permanent crime solicitor with duty status.

VAC-17623 Accredited Police Station Rep Firm in South East London looking for a crime paralegal with police station accreditation to work at their Greenwich office. Post is full-time, permanent and salary will be negotiable depending on experience.

VAC-17622 Family Panel Member Firm in South East London looking for a family lawyer with law society family panel membership to work at their Greenwich office.

VAC-17621 Duty Solicitors Firm in South East London looking for duty solicitors to cover police stations, magistrates courts and crown court hearings on a case by case basis.

VAC-17620 Child Care Solicitor A law firm based in Basildon, Essex have an opening in their Children Department for a specialist Child Care Law Solicitor.

VAC-17619 Part-time Family Lawyer A well established Cheshire firm are looking for a family lawyer to work part-time at their Altrincham office.

VAC-17618 Senior Family Lawyer A very well established and well respected Hertfordshire law firm are looking for a senior family lawyer to work at their St Albans office.

VAC-17617 Flight Delay Claim Paralegal Specialist litigation firm in Manchester are looking for a paralegal to work at their office located within a 10 minute walk of Piccadilly Station.

VAC-17616 Actions Against the Police & Public Authorities Supervisor A well established firm with offices across North Yorkshire are looking for an Actions Against the Police and Public Authorities Supervisor.

VAC-17614 Duty Solicitor North Wales firm looking for a duty solicitor to work on a salaried basis.

VAC-17611 Commercial Property Lawyer A well established East Sussex firm are looking for a junior commercial property lawyer to work at their Shoreham office.

VAC-17610 Senior Conveyancer A well established East Sussex firm are looking for a senior conveyancing lawyer to manage a residential caseload at their Shoreham office.

VAC-17608 Head of Conveyancing A well established Surrey firm are looking for a conveyancer to work as team leader of the conveyancing department at their busy Kingston office.

VAC-17607 Conveyancing and Wills & Probate A well established firm with offices across Essex are looking for a solicitor to work at their Maldon office on the coastal side of Chelmsford.

VAC-17605 Property Solicitor A small but very well established Bedfordshire firm are looking for a conveyancing lawyer to work at their Leighton Buzzard office.

VAC-17604 Child Care Solicitor A medium sized Buckinghamshire firm are looking for a family/child care lawyer to work at their Milton Keynes office. Home working possible.

VAC-17603 Commercial Property Lawyer A medium sized firm are looking for a commercial property lawyer to manage a caseload at their Bedford office.

VAC-17601 Commercial Property Solicitor West Midlands Legal 500 firm are looking for a commercial property solicitor to work at their busy Coventry office.

VAC-17600 Residential Conveyancer West Midlands Legal 500 firm are looking for a conveyancer to work at their busy Coventry office.

VAC-17599 Social Care Solicitor A Sunderland based firm specialising in Care of the Elderly are looking to take on a solicitor on a part time basis to work initially 2 days per week.

VAC-17594 Wills and Probate Paralegal Wills and Probate Paralegal with possibility of a training contract in future (not confirmed..). Salary levels £18,000-£20,000 per annum depending on experience

Ask a Recruitment Consultant – questions this month on our chat bot

Questions sent to us via our Chat service online, together with general career questions emailed across. We do our best to answer all queries, sometimes after a fairly lengthy delay if we are busy!

Q: I am a paralegal and would like to set up a business. How do I go about doing this?

A: A timely question as a few days ago we received a press release from the National Association of Licenced Paralegals all about setting up a paralegal practice – there is an article all about this from Amanda Hamilton, CEO of NALP. I have abbreviated it and included the advice below.

HOW TO SET UP IN BUSINESS AS A PARALEGAL PRACTITIONER
By Amanda Hamilton, NALP
With solicitors and barristers charging upwards of £150 per hour, many people are now turning to Paralegals who can do much the same as a solicitor or barrister (with e few exceptions) but for a fraction of the cost. Paralegals are currently a growth area with lots of demand for their services. Now is a good time to set up your own Paralegal practice – but before you do so, here are some dos and don’ts.

Paralegals are not statutorily regulated and therefore you may come up against people who tell you that anyone can call him/herself a ‘Paralegal’ and it is not necessary to gain any training or qualification to carry out paralegal services.

So the very first thing you need to do is gain a paralegal or legal qualification or at the very least get some paralegal training and then, as much experience as possible. Once you have gained some knowledge of law and legal procedure and have gained three or more years’ relevant legal experience, you need to decide whether you wish to specialize in one area of law or would like to be a general practitioner.

Setting up in practice:
Being a member of NALP entitles you, subject to the requisite qualifications and/or experience and fulfillment of eligibility criteria, to apply for a Licence to Practise in the areas of law in which you can provide evidence of experience. This means that NALP has done its due diligence on you and thoroughly vetted you and your credentials.

Eligibility Criteria to gain a Licence to Practise:
1. Qualifications – you must have a minimum Level 3 qualification and a minimum of three years’ experience
2. Experience only – you may not have qualifications but can provide evidence of a minimum of five years’ experience
3. Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII): covering you for the work that you do.
So, you have your Licence to Practise, now what do you do?
You should ensure that there is no inference in any marketing for your business, whether via a website of Facebook Page, that you are a solicitor or barrister. This is what is known as ‘Holding Out’ and is illegal. So, in all your marketing you have to make it clear that you are a paralegal and not a solicitor or barrister. Even if you do not mention this specifically, you may be held accountable if consumers can make an assumption.
You must also be very much aware that there are certain activities you are unable to perform. You must know these ‘reserved activities’ (as defined by S12 of The Legal Services Act 2007) back to front and ensure that you do not undertake such activities. For example, you cannot buy and sell property for a client. Apart from the ‘reserved activities’, you can operate in much the same way as a solicitor, e.g. you can operate as a Paralegal Firm and have partners.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amanda Hamilton is Chief Executive of the National Association of Licenced Paralegals (NALP), a non-profit Membership Body and the only Paralegal body that is recognised as an awarding organisation by Ofqual (the regulator of qualifications in England & Wales).
http://www.nationalparalegals.co.uk
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-hamilton-llb-hons-840a6a16/

Q: I am currently seeking advice on a career change into legal work. I am currently in my final year of an LLB course with the OU (Open University). I have been studying part time while in the armed forces for 11 years and I am 29 years old. I am considering enrolling for an LPC course in 2018 and wondering what options I have and possible routes to qualify as a solicitor as I am not taking the normal conventional route. Your advice in this matter would be much appreciated.

A: You don’t say whether you have legal experience. If you haven’t got any legal experience how do you know you want to be a solicitor? Is it worth spending £000s on the LPC if you don’t know? Options include looking at the ILEX route (you can work whilst qualifying), the part time study training contract (again you can work whilst qualifying although it seems to take forever when you are doing it – I qualified via this route), or simply go to work in a law firm and do the LPC when you have decided this is the career for you.

Q: Hello Sir, I am a poor man so please grant me a job.

A: I would love to assist, but I am afraid I am a relatively poor man too and lack the magical power to grant people jobs.

Legal Job Market Report

Summary

November has been a quiet month again, but this is fairly normal as we approach Christmas. We will be writing the same thing for December! Locum assignments have actually picked up a bit, which is unusual, but permanent roles remain down. The increase in conveyancing candidates last month has now ended.

Full article at https://www.ten-percent.co.uk/legal-job-market-update-dated-16th-december-2017/

Law Firms Wanted and For Sale

Ref 19101402 BVI law firm with licence for sale or rent or merger etc… Particularly topical following the recent Panorama investigation!
Ref 25101117 Birmingham law firm – immigration and family law looking for a merger, particularly with a larger practice if possible.
Ref 06111648 Reading firm looking to buy or merge with other practices. Happy to look at options. Smaller sized high street firms likely.
Ref 21090941 Leicester law firm looking for a sale. 5 staff, £150k turnover. Litigation firm, well established.
Ref 20092238 West Midlands law firm looking to buy up small practices and sole practitioners in the area. Funds in place to expand.
Ref 08061231 Buyer looking to purchase will banks in London and Home Counties.
Ref 04071347 Buyer looking to purchase a solicitors firm with a crime or family legal aid contract in Beds, Bucks, Northants or Herts.

Hourly Rates of Pay for Locum Solicitors and Legal Executives

Rates have now decreased slightly as we get closer to Christmas – we expect them to go down further still. Up to £35 per hour in Conveyancing is still the norm for most locums, although a good proportion are dropping to £28-32 per hour to get the assignments.

Full info at https://www.ten-percent.co.uk/legal-locum-hourly-rates-december-2017/

Relocating to Ireland – What’s the Craic?

A number of PR companies have identified Ten Percent Legal Recruitment as being a news provider. With this in mind we get regular press releases from law firms, universities, companies, government departments and lots more besides. Most of this is probably about as interesting as our newsletters, but occasionally it is possible to spot a trend.

The recent trend has been ‘relocating to Ireland’ to do legal work and Irish solicitors firms offering UK clients their services for future work in the EU. With reports of some larger solicitors firms recruiting large numbers of staff in Dublin, it looks likely that some movement of business over to Ireland from the UK is going to occur. I very much doubt there is a lot of Irish legal work to compete for but relocating to Ireland and then servicing UK clients seems to be the idea. Whether the whole relocation thing has any longer term effect once the whole EU departure thing is completed is another matter entirely.

So relocating to Ireland – how easy is it to open a company, get a postal address and get going in Ireland?

http://legalrecruitment.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/relocating-to-ireland-whats-craic.html

Restrictive Covenants – do they put employees off?

We have recently introduced a candidate to an employer where a restrictive covenant was used which must surely fall foul of rather a lot of employment regulations!

The role is a fairly junior fee earner position and not senior management or director level.

The restrictive covenant was actually called a “non-compete clause” and included the following:

1.	Not to directly or indirectly compete with the business of the company…during employment or for a period of 3 years after termination of employment.

2.	Not allowed to contact…any client or prospective client the employee had dealings with during employment.

“Not compete” is defined as the employee not owning, manage, operate, consult or be employed in a business similar to or competitive with the company.

Full info at https://www.ten-percent.co.uk/restrictive-covenants-do-they-put-employees-off/

Free Marketing Advice for Law Firms in January 2018

Have you got a marketing question you want answering? How much of your turnover should you spend on marketing? Is LinkedIn or Google Adwords more efficient? What keywords should I use to get the most business? How relevant is traditional marketing as opposed to digital? Is Facebook a waste of time (we think so!)?

We often get emails from Nick, a non-practising solicitor, advertising his marketing services. We have asked him to write a few articles for Legal Recruitment News and he has agreed. He will provide free marketing advice to any law firm who contact us with a specific or general question regarding law firm marketing, with publication in next month’s edition. Simply email your query to jbfagan@ten-percent.co.uk and I’ll pass it on. We get no financial benefit from this link up.

Paralegals are more likely not to turn up for Job Interviews than any other staff. Why?

Out of 5 job interviews arranged for paralegals and junior fee earners, we estimate that 1 candidate will not turn up. For solicitors and legal executives we think the figure is closer to 1 in 20. Why? Here are our top reasons.

1.	It is much easier to apply for a job than it is to explain in person why you should be given it.

2.	Paralegals lack confidence in their legal knowledge and skills. Are they going to look silly when they attend the interview?

3.	Romford to Luton as a daily commute looked fine when they applied.. Location is a key issue – paralegals don’t seem very good at identifying a reasonable distance to travel.

4.	The thought of actually going out to work is considerably harder to contemplate than staying at home.

5.	Whilst £18k sounded good when applying, the train fare will remove the first £3k of this.

6.	Qualified solicitors and legal executives have jumped through a lot of hoops, worked very hard and actually attended job interviews to get where they are. A lot of potential paralegals and junior staff fail at the first hurdle.

Full article here:https://www.ten-percent.co.uk/paralegals-are-more-likely-not-to-turn-up-for-job-interviews-than-any-other-staff-why/

Should Law Graduates Pay for Careers Advice?

Recently www.legalcheek.com (a legal blog) ran a series of articles discussing whether graduates should consider paying for training contract advice after the Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) strongly advised against it. Although we no longer provide careers advice ourselves, we were approached for comment as we still sell training contract advice packs via one of our websites. This was the comment we added:

http://legalrecruitment.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/should-law-graduates-pay-for-careers.html

Vacancies

To search our current vacancies please visit https://www.ten-percent.co.uk/vacancies/

Ask a Recruitment Consultant – questions this month on our chat bot

Questions sent to us via our Chat service online, together with general career questions emailed across. We do our best to answer all queries, sometimes after a fairly lengthy delay if we are busy!

Q: I am a New Zealand qualified solicitor looking for paralegal opportunities with an immediate start. Can you assist?

A: No – very unlikely. We have been recruiting for UK law firms since April 2000 and I can count the number of New Zealand lawyers we have successfully assisted on one finger. For some reason UK law firms want UK qualified or experienced staff. Try Hays, Michael Page or LawStaff.

Q: I am being considered for a property locum role for 6 months in -house for a housing association. It is not a transactional role. Would the fact that it is non transactional and with a housing association harm my chances of getting commercial property transactional locum work afterwards with private practices?

A: Hard to say – yes to a certain extent because your in house experience will be the last thing on your CV, and law firms tend to want locums who have private practice experience. However if you have 15 years private practice experience prior to this then you shouldn’t have a problem.

Q: How do I find work as a McKenzie Friend?

A: Not a clue – I don’t think I have ever come across anyone advertising for them! Have you tried approaching a body like the Citizens Advice Bureau to get work that way?

Q: I want to get the Legal Knowledge. Can you help me?

A: I did wonder whether this person is actually after a taxi firm. Naturally the answer is no. I have been searching for the Legal Knowledge since law school 20 years ago.

Legal Recruitment News – November 8th 2017

Legal Job Market Report

Summary

October has been a quiet month again, which is fairly normal but the legal job market seems very subdued at the moment. We are active in both legal & accountancy recruitment and accountancy is currently booming so quite a contrast! Locum assignments have dropped (as is usual for this time of year) and permanent roles have also dropped. We have noticed a real drop in demand for conveyancers and a trickle of conveyancing candidates starting to appear on the market. Not sure yet which way this is heading.. The sale and purchase of law firms has increased, although this is a fairly new area for us.

Full Article here – https://www.ten-percent.co.uk/legal-job-market-report-november-2017/

Law Firms Wanted and For Sale
Ref 19101402 BVI law firm with licence for sale or rent or merger etc… Particularly topical following the recent Panorama investigation!
Ref 25101117 Birmingham law firm – immigration and family law looking for a merger, particularly with a larger practice if possible.
Ref 24102155 Offshore solicitor looking to purchase a wills & probate practice somewhere in the UK. Has gone quiet in last 2 weeks but supposedly still looking.
Ref 06111648 Reading firm looking to buy or merge with other practices. Happy to look at options. Smaller sized high street firms likely.
Ref 21090941 Leicester law firm looking for a sale. 5 staff, £150k turnover. Litigation firm, well established.
Ref 20092238 West Midlands law firm looking to buy up small practices and sole practitioners in the area. Funds in place to expand.
Ref 08061231 Buyer looking to purchase will banks in London and Home Counties.
Ref 04071347 Buyer looking to purchase a solicitors firm with a crime or family legal aid contract in Beds, Bucks, Northants or Herts.

Hourly Rates of Pay for Locum Solicitors and Legal Executives

Rates have now decreased slightly as we get closer to Christmas – we expect them to go down further still. Up to £35 per hour in Conveyancing is still the norm for most locums, although a good proportion are dropping to £28-32 per hour to get the assignments.

November 2017 Locum Rates :
Residential Conveyancing Locum Solicitors – 1-5 years PQE, £28 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 – £35-50 per hour.
Wills & Probate Solicitors and Legal Executives – 3-35 years PQE – £35-45 per hour.

Family Solicitors – 4-40 years PQE – £25-34 per hour.
Civil Litigation Solicitors and ILEX– 1-35 years PQE. £28-35 per hour. These rates cover mainstream litigation.
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 – £24-30 per hour (minimal amounts of work).
Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence – 3+ years PQE – £18-£35 per hour. Work very sporadic.
In House Legal Department Rates: 0-3 years PQE – £25-32 per hour (wide range due to variables in legal department work), 3+ years PQE – £30-80 per hour (very wide range due to the nature of in house work).
Local authority rates: write some numbers between 24 and 65 on a piece of paper, close your eyes and point at one. 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. The rates are for self-employed locums billing firms directly on a weekly basis. We have over 11,000 lawyers registered with us.

How much do Sole Practitioners Earn – careers question?

A recent law graduate has asked an extremely pertinent question regarding future career plans:

“In your professional opinion, how much do sole practitioners (on the high street working in family/conveyancing) tend to make annually? Also more generally, would you say, despite the over supply of law graduates and the SRA’s soon to be new route to qualification, that law as a career is still worth pursuing, e.g. can you still make a good living?”

To read the full article please click here – https://www.ten-percent.co.uk/how-much-do-sole-practitioners-earn/

CV Blooper of the Month

Never depend on spellcheck when writing your CV! Taken from a finance CV. The candidate also forgot to include his name.

Permanent Vacancies registered in the last 28 days

North, Scotland and Wales
VAC-17444 Personal Injury Paralegal Warrington
VAC-17473 Civil Litigation Solicitor Stockport
VAC-17465 Commercial Litigation Solicitor Manchester
VAC-17438 Commercial Litigation Solicitor Manchester
VAC-17451 In House Commercial Legal Support Llandudno
VAC-17437 Residential Conveyancing Llandudno
VAC-17456 Company Commercial / Commercial Property Solicitor Hull
VAC-17432 Personal Injury Fee Earner Halifax
VAC-17448 Family Law Solicitor Cardiff
VAC-17442 Residential Conveyancer Blackburn

South and Midlands
VAC-17452 Civil Litigation Paralegal West-Central London
VAC-17457 Investment Fund Solicitor West London
VAC-17410 Prison Law West London
VAC-17409 Duty Solicitor West London
VAC-17423 Litigation Solicitor Watford
VAC-17470 NQ Solicitor or Trainee Solicitor for Cornwall and/or London Truro
VAC-17431 Duty Solicitors Southall
VAC-17411 Commercial Property Solicitor South East London
VAC-17466 Family Locum Solicitor Reading
VAC-17468 Crime Solicitors – Duty in Cornwall and Devon – consultancy percentage split arrangement Plymouth
VAC-17419 Senior Wills & Probate Solicitor Oxford
VAC-17418 Wills & Probate Solicitor Oxford
VAC-17467 Commercial Property Lawyer x 2 in Norwich Norwich
VAC-17430 NQ Family Law Solicitor North West London
VAC-17417 Conveyancer North London
VAC-17462 Litigation Executive Milton Keynes
VAC-17443 Private Immigration Solicitor Milton Keynes
VAC-17429 Commercial Contracts Lawyer Milton Keynes
VAC-17428 Insolvency Lawyer Milton Keynes
VAC-17449 Family Law Solicitor Maidstone
VAC-17455 Mental Health Solicitor Luton
VAC-17454 Clinical Negligence Solicitor Luton
VAC-17453 Family Law Supervisor Luton
VAC-17421 Paralegal Luton
VAC-17414 Commercial Property Secretary Ipswich
VAC-17413 Personal Injury Secretary Ipswich
VAC-17412 Employment Solicitor Ipswich
VAC-17450 Wills and Probate Consultant Harrow
VAC-17440 Private Immigration Lawyer Harrow
VAC-17436 Residential Conveyancing Locum East-Central London
VAC-17427 Civil Consultant East-Central London
VAC-17426 NQ Crime Solicitor East-Central London
VAC-17425 Crime Paralegal East-Central London
VAC-17471 Family/Child Care Law Solicitor East London
VAC-17464 Residential Conveyancing Locum East London
VAC-17404 Crown Court Litigator Coventry
VAC-17433 Wills & Probate Solicitor Chelmsford
VAC-17447 Senior Commercial Property Solicitor Bristol
VAC-17446 Senior Residential Property Solicitor Bristol
VAC-17445 Conveyancing Bristol
VAC-17422 Residential Conveyancer Brighton
VAC-17420 Wills & Probate Solicitor Brighton
VAC-17424 Wills & Probate Solicitor Bournemouth
VAC-17458 Family Solicitor Birmingham
VAC-17439 Commercial Property Solicitor Birmingham
VAC-17405 General Litigation Solicitor Locum Birmingham

Any interest in getting further information? Please email cv@ten-percent.co.uk and we’ll get back with firm names etc..

Ask a Recruitment Consultant – questions this month on our chat bot

Questions sent to us via our Chat service online, together with general career questions emailed across. We do our best to answer all queries, sometimes after a fairly lengthy delay if we are busy!

Q: I wonder if you have any advice or comment on the following. a sole practitioner has been asked by a lender panel to give details of a locum who the principal would have on call if the worst happened and the firm was left without a solicitor at short notice. Do you have any suggestions?

Q: I am considering making a career in legal services and am simply writing for a few lines of advice. Recently, I overheard a stranger describe their solicitor as, “a pain in the backside to deal with, which makes her fantastic at the job she’s done”. This struck me as exactly the kind of praise I would want to receive for a job well done. However, after wavering for years over which academic route to follow, I have just earned a masters degree in linguistics and still have not settled on an end goal. I am about to turn 25 and the thought of a conversion degree followed by an LPC brings up the concern that by the time I am able to practice, I will be nearly 30 and difficult to employ relative to the bright young graduates in competition within the same job market. How realistic are these concerns? Is it common for someone to switch to a legal career late and succeed?

Answers to both questions here – https://www.ten-percent.co.uk/questions-for-our-recruitment-consultants/

Legal Job Market Report

Key points from 2nd September to 4th October 2017 are as follows:

▪	Permanent recruitment has increased.

▪	Locum recruitment has decreased. Hourly rates have decreased in line with the seasonal norm.

▪	Commercial and In House roles have picked up.

▪	Wills and Probate is quieter but locum and permanent candidates remain very much in demand.

▪	Conveyancing is quieter on the locum side than 4 weeks ago. High seasonal demand has now ended. Permanent vacancies remain unfilled for long periods of time due to severe shortage of candidates although more are coming on stream.

To read the full article please click here:https://www.ten-percent.co.uk/legal-job-market-report-october-2017/

Conveyancing Solicitor looking for a role commutable from East London Senior solicitor – has instructed us to act on an exclusive basis to find a new home. We have approached a number of firms this week at the candidate’s request but they are also interested in looking at other firms in the area. Residential and Commercial Conveyancing, 10+ years PQE with a following of clients. Salaried roles only and very keen to get a good bonus structure in place. Full Time Permanent. Contact us to express an interest – jbfagan@ten-percent.co.uk. Candidate will only look at well established practices on all the lenders panels. Lexcel accredited firms preferred.

Law Firms Wanted and For Sale
Ref 21090941 Leicester law firm looking for a sale. 5 staff, £150k turnover. Litigation firm, well established.
Ref 20092238 West Midlands law firm looking to buy up small practices and sole practitioners in the area. Funds in place to expand.
Ref 08061231 Buyer looking to purchase will banks in London and Home Counties.
Ref 04071347 Buyer looking to purchase a solicitors firm with a crime or family legal aid contract in Beds, Bucks, Northants or Herts.

Hourly Rates of Pay for Locum Solicitors and Legal Executives

Rates have now decreased slightly as we get closer to Christmas – we expect them to go down further still. Up to £35 per hour in Conveyancing is still the norm for most locums, although a good proportion are dropping to £30-32 per hour to get the assignments.

Job Offers and the Dangled Carrot of Partnership

Dangling the carrot of a partnership when being offered a job or at an annual review is either because:

1.	The firm genuinely like you, are genuinely nice and genuinely see a long term future for you at the practice. Partnership is a good way of cementing your relationship and committing you to the business for years to come.

https://www.ten-percent.co.uk/job-offers-and-dangling-partnership-carrots/

Is your career stuck in a rut?

If you are going into work feeling thoroughly miserable and hating every minute of it, here are some tips for strapping a proverbial rocket to your back and changing your life.

http://legalrecruitment.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/is-your-career-stuck-in-rut-read-these.html

 CV Blooper of the Month

Extract from Paralegal’s CV – more incomprehensible waffle than a blooper but included nevertheless!

Profile:

http://legalrecruitment.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/cv-blooper-of-month-october.html

The Legal Profession, Flexible Hours and Working from Home

Many years ago, when I started out in law, flexible hours were something women benefited from when they had given birth and returned to work for a few years. Otherwise hours were strictly 9am to 5pm with an hour for lunch.

The Legal Profession, Flexible Hours and Working from Home

Permanent Vacancies registered in the last 21 days

North, Scotland and Wales
VAC-17368 Residential Conveyancer Manchester
VAC-17338 Personal Injury Solicitor Manchester
VAC-17382 LAA Family Law Supervisor Hull
VAC-17379 Duty Solicitor Hull
VAC-17377 Immigration Supervisor Hull
VAC-17357 Residential Conveyancer Harrogate
VAC-17402 Personal Injury Fee Earner Chester
VAC-17364 Residential Conveyancers Bolton
VAC-17391 Locum Family Solicitor Abertawe

South and Midlands
VAC-17380 NQ Solicitors/Paralegals – Conveyancing and Commercial in Wolverhampton
VAC-17365 Residential Conveyancing Solicitor West London
VAC-17353 Crime and Family Law Solicitor West London
VAC-17351 Family Law Supervisor West London
VAC-17347 Wills & Probate Solicitor Truro
VAC-17381 Wills & Probate Solicitor Taunton
VAC-17358 Conveyancing Solicitor Stoke-on-Trent
VAC-17341 Residential Conveyancer Stevenage
VAC-17395 Contentious Probate & Debt Recovery Lawyer Southend-on-Sea
VAC-17393 Part-time Wills & Probate Solicitor Southend-on-Sea
VAC-17392 Entry Level Paralegal Southend-on-Sea
VAC-17352 Crime and/or Family Law Solicitor Southampton
VAC-17343 Part-time Duty Solicitors South East London
VAC-17374 Family Law Solicitor Slough
VAC-17370 Family Law Paralegal Slough
VAC-17376 Family Law Paralegals Reading
VAC-17373 Wills & Probate Solicitor Reading
VAC-17372 Head of Family Department Reading
VAC-17388 Commercial Property Portsmouth
VAC-17361 Mental Health Supervisor Peterborough
VAC-17360 Duty Solicitor Peterborough
VAC-17375 Family Law Solicitor Guildford
VAC-17362 Residential Conveyancer Guildford
VAC-17355 Family Law Paralegal Guildford
VAC-17354 Finance Manager Guildford
VAC-17350 Family Law Supervisor Guildford
VAC-17349 Senior Litigation Fee Earner Exeter
VAC-17346 Commercial Property Exeter
VAC-17383 Crime Solicitors East-Central London
VAC-17369 Wills & Probate Solicitor East-Central London
VAC-17387 Personal Injury Paralegal East London
VAC-17404 Crown Court Litigator Coventry
VAC-17390 Litigation Claims Handler Bromley
VAC-17389 Instructions Claims Handler Bromley
VAC-17398 Civil Litigation Solicitor Birmingham
VAC-17385 Contentious Insolvency Solicitor Birmingham
VAC-17363 Duty Solicitor Birmingham
VAC-17359 Level 2 Accredited Immigration Lawyer Birmingham

Any interest in getting further information? Please email cv@ten-percent.co.uk and we’ll get back with firm names etc..

Ask a Recruitment Consultant – questions this month on our chat bot

Questions sent to us via our Chat service online, together with general career questions emailed across. We do our best to answer all queries, sometimes after a fairly lengthy delay if we are busy!

Q: I graduated from university with a 1st class degree, and have secured a masters at Oxford starting October. My first language is Spanish, and when l moved to the UK at 16 l did not know enough English to score top grades at A-Level. I obtained ACC and have been carrying the mark of these results ever since. These grades have stopped me from making it past the online application forms in City firms. I was hoping with your experience in recruitment, you could give me an opinion in terms of my options.

1.	Take a year out and take A levels again. Work as a paralegal for a firm in the hope that they will give me a training contract at some point.

2.	Work as a paralegal for a firm in the hope that they will give me a training contract at some point.

---

Should I take my A Levels again to get better grades after finishing my degree?

Legal Job Market Report

Key points from 13th July to 6th September 2017 are as follows:

▪	Permanent recruitment has decreased.

▪	Locum recruitment has increased. Hourly rates have increased over the summer but will now decline.

▪	Commercial and In House roles have picked up.

▪	Wills and Probate is quieter but locum and permanent candidates remain very much in demand.

▪	Conveyancing is getting quieter on the locum side. High seasonal demand is now ending. Permanent vacancies remain unfilled for long periods of time due to severe shortage of candidates.

Summary

For the full article please visit : https://www.ten-percent.co.uk/legal-job-market-report-dated-10th-september-2017/

Law Firms Wanted and For Sale
Ref 05090736 Buyer sought for North Midlands practice. Litigation firm. Partner happy to stay on as consultant.
Ref 08061231 Buyer looking to purchase will banks in London and Home Counties.
Ref 04071347 Buyer looking to purchase a solicitors firm with a crime or family legal aid contract in Beds, Bucks, Northants or Herts.

Hourly Rates of Pay for Locum Solicitors and Legal Executives

Although conveyancing rates increased over the last four weeks, we will now see a drop in hourly rates as we get closer to Christmas. September tends to remain fairly high as demand has traditionally still been strong. Full article – click here: https://www.ten-percent.co.uk/guide-to-locum-solicitors-hourly-rates-of-pay-september-2017/

10 Things to do before attending a Legal Job Interview

1.	Review your CV. If an agent has sent it, ask them for a copy. We amend CVs nearly every time we send one out – mainly to remove any waffly bits or to present them in a better light. Get a copy, read it carefully. Remind yourself of anything you may have written 10 years ago and forgotten about.

2. Read this article in full by clicking here – https://www.ten-percent.co.uk/10-things-to-do-before-a-legal-job-interview/
Facebook Advertising – any good? I could cut this article very short by saying no, but here is a bit extra. (read the full article here: http://legalrecruitment.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/facebook-advertising-is-it-any-good.html) CV Blooper of the Month Extract from Senior Solicitor’s CV – 30 years experience. Education O Levels in English, Math’s, Geography, History HR departments – seen any good bloopers recently? Send them over to cv@ten-percent.co.uk and if I publish them I’ll send you a £10 Waterstones voucher by way of thanks.
Top Tips for getting and not getting locum assignments Top Tips for getting assignments * Make sure your CV is as detailed as possible. It is no good sending us a CV that does not tell us what you have been doing for the past 20 years. Just writing “Conveyancing” does not give us anything near enough detail! * Make sure your CV is presentable as possible. So many CVs are poorly produced, badly laid out and with multiple fonts all over the place. If this is what your CV looks like then what on earth are your files and letters going to be like? * Be prepared to take assignments away from home to start with. Go for everything you can and if offered a post make sure you fulfil it. We rarely offer a locum a second chance if they fail to turn up or cancel at short notice. Our business depends on our reputation and locums who pull out are just about the most damaging thing to our company’s future existence that we can think of. * Make sure you have supplied us with two references from recent employers. To whom it may concern references are best. * Don’t get disillusioned when you miss out on an assignment. Keep trying – sooner or later one will come up and you will start getting regular bookings. Top Tips for not getting assignments * Be as awkward as possible when we ask you for paperwork,. * Refuse to supply references. * Send us a one page CV with large time gaps on. * Not bother renewing your practising certificate. * Reply to our updates a week later. * Agree to cover a locum role and then not turn up. * Sit at your locum assignment and run another business (this has happened). * Tap up other solicitors firms you deal with whilst in your locum role and ask them for work. Permanent Vacancies registered in the last 21 days North, Scotland and Wales VAC-17338 Personal Injury Solicitor Manchester VAC-17324 Residential Conveyancing Newcastle-upon-Tyne VAC-17321 Personal Injury Fee Earner Chester VAC-17320 Residential Conveyancing Lawyer Cardiff VAC-17311 Family Law Solicitor Carlisle VAC-17299 Personal Injury Lawyer Lincoln South and Midlands VAC-17341 Residential Conveyancer Stevenage VAC-17335 General Practice Solicitor Watford VAC-17329 Commercial Property Paralegal Milton Keynes VAC-17328 Conveyancing Paralegal Milton Keynes VAC-17327 Legal Cashier Tunbridge Wells VAC-17326 Costs Draftsperson South East London VAC-17323 Legal Cashier Leicester VAC-17322 Duty Solicitor Southall VAC-17319 Legal Administrator South West London VAC-17318 Private Client Lawyer Torquay VAC-17317 Family Solicitor Milton Keynes VAC-17316 Part-time Legal Cashier Plymouth VAC-17315 Conveyancing Fee Earner Reading VAC-17313 Conveyancing Solicitor Leicester VAC-17309 NQ Family Solicitor Harrow VAC-17308 Legal Cashier West London VAC-17298 Conveyancing Lawyer Milton Keynes VAC-17297 Crime Paralegal East London VAC-17294 Conveyancing Assistant East-Central London VAC-17290 Personal Injury Fee Earner x 3 West London VAC-17287 Commercial Property Solicitor Stevenage Any interest in getting further information? Please email cv@ten-percent.co.uk and we’ll get back with firm names etc..
Ask a Recruitment Consultant – questions this month on our chat bot Questions sent to us via our new Chat service online, together with general career questions emailed across. We do our best to answer all queries, sometimes after a fairly lengthy delay if we are busy! – Read them here: https://www.ten-percent.co.uk/ask-a-legal-recruitment-consultant/
Low Cost Recruitment for Solicitors – Ten Percent Unlimited Ten-Percent Unlimited is a service offering unlimited recruitment for a set monthly fee. It was set up by us back in 2011 with the aim of making the use of a recruitment agency cost-effective in a time of great financial difficulties for all in the profession. It is still going strong – we have had over 100 members to date – most of whom have been sole practitioners or smaller sized law firms. The Unlimited Recruitment service offers law firms the chance to recruit as many permanent or locum candidates as needed over a period of 5 years in return for a monthly payment. There are no restrictions on numbers (although vacancies have to exist and we do operate a fair usage policy – so far never used) and no other costs. No other similar services exist in the recruitment industry. For example in a 5 year period you may recruit a few locums for cover each year, a replacement conveyancing solicitor, a couple of legal secretaries, possibly a paralegal or two and have a look to expand the firm into a new area of law with an additional fee earner. All of this would cost considerable amounts in advertising and/or recruitment agency fees. However with Ten Percent Unlimited you simply pay a monthly fee for 60 months. One of our recruitment consultants works full time on our Ten Percent Unlimited member firms’ recruitment needs and is always happy to talk about the service. If you would like a chat with Clare Fagan, please give her a ring on 0207 127 4343 or email clare.fagan@ten-percent.co.uk. www.tenpercentunlimited.co.uk. How to be a Locum – pdf guide We have produced a guide on how to be a locum. This includes sections on getting work, realistic expectations, hourly rates, popular fields of law, payment, insurance, umbrella companies and much more. Available for download at no charge from www.interimlawyers.co.uk – click the link on the left hand side of the page. 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 levels. Our company is unique for a number of reasons, including the fact that we are not shy to publish our fee structure and also donate a chunk of our profits to charity each year. We offer unlimited permanent and locum recruitment for a fixed monthly fee or one-off fees depending on the job. We donate 10% of our profits annually to charity, hence our name. We have three recruitment consultants, Jonathan Fagan, Clare Fagan and Pete Gresty, together with our finance director Pearl McNamara. As a team we have over 40 years of experience in the legal profession. Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment also owns Interim Lawyers, a specialist locum service. We operate an outsourced UK based typing service as well – www.tptranscription.co.uk and are preferred suppliers to a number of institutional clients and law firms across the UK and overseas. The Ten-Percent Group of Legal Recruitment websites gives 10% of annual profits to charity. We have carried on with this tradition since we formed the company 15 years ago. So far over £90k has been donated to charities in the UK and Africa including LawCare, Unlock and Reprieve. We hope you have enjoyed reading our newsletter and look forward to hearing from you if we can assist further. Warm regards Jonathan Fagan Director E: jbfagan@tenpercentgroup.com T: 0207 127 4343 Ten-Percent.co.uk Limited 20-22 Wenlock Road London N1 7GU Jonathan Fagan is a solicitor, qualified recruitment consultant and Managing Director of Ten-Percent.co.uk Limited. His LinkedIn profile can be viewed here – www.linkedin.com/in/jbfagan Legal Recruitment News is produced by TP Legal Recruitment – you can view all versions of the e-newsletter at www.legal-recruitment.co.uk. Ten Percent Group – www.tenpercentgroup.com Interim Lawyers – www.interimlawyers.co.uk Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment – www.ten-percent.co.uk Legal Recruitment Newsletter – www.legal-recruitment.co.uk