Legal Recruitment News December 2016

Legal Job Market Update

Key points for November as follows:
* The demand for staff generally has fallen in line with the seasonal norm.
* Permanent recruitment has fallen slightly but remains high.
* Locum recruitment has fallen and remains at a lower level.

[to read more please click here….]

Looking for work in December – a good idea?
No!

[to read more please click here….]

Duty Solicitors – an update
We have had a few enquiries over the last week or so from new firms who have been awarded contracts for crime and on the lookout for duty solicitors and crime supervisors. There is a guide to the regulations regarding the employment of crime supervisors and duty solicitors included on our website at http://www.ten-percent.co.uk/crime-solicitor-contract-2017-extracts-relevant-to-duty-solicitors-and-supervisors/ and the points below relate to our intel so far on the situation:

[to read more please click here…]

Petition for Limiting Pay in the Charity Sector
TP Legal Recruitment is linked to the Ten Percent Foundation who donate 10% of profits to charity every year. As part of this the charity runs a campaign to highlight excessive executive pay in the charity sector and also to encourage other businesses to donate a percentage of profits to charity each year.

There is a currently a petition before Parliament as follows: “Remove status from charities paying staff more than 3 times the average wage.”

The link for signing the petition is here:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/173515/sponsors/79d4m6YKcpXSEsXLyGh

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. NB: These rates are intended as a guide only. Hourly rates can vary according to the location, duration and level of expertise.

November 2016 Private Practice Law Firm Locum Rates:
* Conveyancing Locum Solicitors – 1-3 years PQE, handling residential standard sale price only – £25-28 per hour (variation for central London – £26-30 per hour).
* Conveyancing Locum Solicitors & ILEX – 5-35 years PQE, handling all levels of conveyancing including managing a department – £26-£35 per hour, including central London.
* Commercial Property Solicitors – 1-40 years PQE – £32-45 per hour.
* Wills & Probate Solicitors and Executives – 3-35 years PQE – £35-45 per hour.
* Family Solicitors – 4-40 years PQE – £27-30 per hour. Occasionally this goes up to £35 per hour for short notice or a few days cover.
* Civil Litigation – 1-35 years PQE. £25-35 per hour. These rates cover mainstream litigation – eg county court and small claims matters.
* Corporate Commercial Locum Solicitors – 5-45 years PQE. £35-75 per hour. Usual rate in small-medium law firms is around £40-50 per hour.
* In House Locum Solicitors – 3-35 years PQE. £35-60 per hour. Usual rate in a larger sized blue chip company legal department is c.£50 per hour going up to c£100-£120.

NB all rates exclude agency fees. The rates are for self-employed locums billing firms directly on a weekly basis.

Hourly Rate, Weekly Rate and Salary Equivalents:
£25 per hour = £937.50 per week or £45,000 per annum (assuming a 7.5 hour day and a 48 week year).
£30 per hour = £1,125 per week or £54,000 per annum.

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.

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 over 100 members – most of whom are 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.uk-transcription.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 about £80k has been donated to charities in the UK and Africa including LawCare.

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.

Interim Lawyers – www.interimlawyers.co.uk
Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment – www.ten-percent.co.uk
Legal Recruitment Newsletter – www.legal-recruitment.co.uk