Articles From the Team

Are you making the most of your career in law?

December is here! Wow that came around fast….. Is your career where you want it to be?

If not now is definitely the time to plan your next move.

In Manchester and the North West as a whole we have seen a huge surge in recruitment activity in firms of all levels across key commercial disciplines. If you are a solicitor with experience in corporate, commercial, real estate, construction, employment, planning, commercial litigation, IT, IP or banking now is definitely the time to evaluate your career plan. With so many solicitors leaving the profession between 2008-2011 combined with the dearth of trainees coming through during that time the demand for legal talent in all of the aforementioned disciplines is massively outstripping the supply.

Timing is key.

If you don’t act now you it is very possible that you will miss the opportunities a recovering economy is offering. Solicitors at any level can make a jump. In the last 3 months BCL Legal has helped solicitors move from small high street practices to leading regionals and from small boutique to leading internationals. For senior lawyers with a business case and/or a love of marketing/business development we have seen some excellent appointments at partner level. Perhaps none of these are for you and your goal is work life balance; with confidence restored to the high street smaller, regional or niche firms have also been recruiting in number. This truly is a ‘candidate driven’ market, that means firms are looking at a whole host of ways to attract good people including flexible working patterns, promotions and signing on bonuses.

If you are a trainee you need to be aware that some firms are recruiting up to 6 months in advance.

Making the move right now can see you move into a specialist team, access to bigger clients, more complicated work, access to the technical knowledge and know how of experts in your chosen field, potentially you could even get the opportunity to retrain as well as unlock your earning potential. It could also give you the ability to negotiate flexibility and as such secure work life balance. I guess what this market gives you is options and a strong negotiating position!

If you are an ambitious and career minded solicitor I would strongly advise speaking to one of BCL Legal’s specialist legal recruitment consultants who will be more than happy to give you an honest evaluation of how best to achieve you personal goals in your legal career.

For more information, please contact James Hitti at BCL Legal.