Law Firms - Regions (commentary)
A commentary for law firms across the UK is presented below. The regions examined are: the South East; Midlands and South West; North West and the North East and Yorkshire.
South East
The legal market in the South East and East Anglia is more buoyant than ever; there is an abundance of roles in the corporate and commercial property arenas in particular, as well as commercial, construction and employment.
With South East firms dominating the "The Lawyer Rising 50" and a quarter of the Top 100 having a presence in the region, it is an obvious alternative to the City.
Continued media coverage on work-life balance, high-quality commercial work on offer and being within striking distance of London all combine to make firms in this area an attractive and feasible option for candidates.
Top-tier regional law firms are competing to secure the best lawyers, which has resulted in the salary gap between the highest paying areas such as Thames Valley and Guildford and other firms in the South East widening. This is most evident at newly-qualified level with a salary differential emerging of up to £15,000 in some cases.
Benefits and trends
The majority of South East law firms offer a performance-related bonus, with most firms expecting to distribute this. Other benefits continue to include pension, life assurance and medical cover with an increasing number of senior lawyers being provided with a mobile phone or Blackberry.
Midlands & South West
Birmingham and Bristol remain the principal legal hubs within the Midlands and South West areas respectively and accordingly salaries there tend to be higher. Cities such as Nottingham, Leicester, Northampton, Exeter and Plymouth all boast strong commercial practices but in general, salaries tend to lag behind the former two by anything between 5-20%.
The slowdown experienced in the London market over the last couple of years has been mirrored in the Midlands and South West and salaries at each level of qualification have - with the exception of just a very few firms - remained static.
In fact, in some cases, law firms’ salary banding at each level of qualification has contracted so that the distinction between, say, a 6 years’ PQE solicitor and their potential partner-quality peer, is marginal. In 2004, we have seen those bands widen so better reflecting the differential in fee earners’ contributions and abilities.
The general practices recruited more consistently through the downturn and demand remains high for residential conveyancers, private client lawyers and Police Station Accredited criminal solicitors.
The paucity of suitable candidates has led to higher salaries for lawyers boasting these particular specialisms, although they still lag behind their commercial counterparts. Salaries for corporate, IT and IP lawyers - who in 2001 commanded substantial premiums - have remained flat since then, reflecting the fact that many departments have been operating at substantially below their capacity.
As activity picks up in these sectors this year, we expect to see salary increases, particularly at the one to four years' pqe levels.
Benefits and trends
Employee benefits in the regions tend to be more limited than those in London. An employer pension scheme is usual for most commercial law firms and an employer contribution of 2-5% of salary is usual.
Private medical insurance (once he/she has completed their probationary period) is also common. Increasingly, firms are introducing flexible benefits schemes whereby solicitors can “buy or sell” certain ancillary benefits such as holiday days, medical cover or commissionaire services.
Benefits like cars and lump sum end of year financial bonuses are exceptionally rare below partner level.
North West, North East & Yorkshire
The northern regional market, dominated by the legal centres of Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield & Newcastle, continues to thrive and over the course of the last four to five years, has proved to be much less cyclical than London.
The national firms, such as Eversheds and DLA, are continuing to expand with different visions and strategies beginning to emerge. There is still a very strong middle tier of firms serving the SME/OMB sector as well as a number of niche providers.
Consolidation through merger is a constant market phenomenon. Gordons in Leeds and Bradford successfully merged with Leeds-based Nelson & Co, while the North West witnessed Hill Dickinson’s appetite for growth as it merged with regional property player Bullivant Jones in Liverpool and took on the healthcare team from George Davies in Manchester.
Cobbetts, once an independent Manchester firm now also operates in Leeds and Birmingham having merged with Read Hind Stewart and Lee Crowder respectively.
Again the story is one of modest salary increases. Newly-qualified salaries at the larger firms remained static with more significant pay rises for those at the 3-6-year pqe level. Manchester and Leeds practices continue to pay the highest salaries but the major Newcastle firms have maintained surprising parity with Leeds.
Commercial property and related recruitment activity has been strong across the North of England for the last two years. The slow trend of rising interest rates has not yet impacted on the market and there is still plenty of development work under way. Liverpool with its “City of Culture for 2008 status” is undergoing a real renaissance that has led to an upturn in property projects for the benefit of local firms and lawyers.
The corporate market never sank to the depths facing many London firms post 9/11 but there was certainly a dearth of transactional work. Currently there are low signs of recovery. Niche and specialist areas such as private client, tax and pensions remain tough recruitment areas for firms.
Equally, those lawyers with projects, private finance and public private partnerships’ experience are sought after as many firms have benefited from the Government’s investment in public services.
There continues to be demand for high quality legal executives and paralegals with strong sector-related experience. Many firms have done away with old fashioned structures and now provide paralegals with long-term career paths.
Benefits and trends
Benefits are relatively standard but increasingly there is a trend is towards offering a flexible benefits package where employees can trade those elements they want with those they don’t.
The problem of work-life balance is still being addressed by many firms with an increasing amount of part-time working and job sharing being proposed.
