Articles From the Team

Opportunities in far off locations

BCL Legal have preferred supplier agreements with nearly all of the leading legal practices in the West, East and South Midlands market and are privileged to enjoy  strong relations  that we can use to bring opportunities to our candidates across most disciplines of law.

However, we are also in the position of having excellent relationships with a number of more provincial legal practices offering good quality work outside of city centre locations. We do sometimes find that some candidates are less inclined to consider opportunities with less well known practices worrying that there might be a detrimental effect on their CVs/ experience.

It should be remembered that there can be many benefits to working at less recognised practices. Firstly the recession and resulting pressure on legal spend for businesses means that many provincial practices have been able to attract work from very good quality clients. Competitive pricing means than many of these firms can now boast national and even international clients.

For junior solicitors there are often benefits to working in smaller teams, including getting more hands on experience of work, greater client exposure and increased opportunities to network. For senior lawyers, it is often easier to break into Partnership or other types of management position.

Clearly there can be a difference in salaries and benefits packages, however this is often made up for by more flexible working conditions and a rejection of the “long hours” culture.

Many of our candidates that do consider opportunities in more provincial locations, come away from interviews pleasantly surprised by the working environment, quality of work, promotion opportunities and work/ life balance that such options can offer.

Finally at mid – junior levels movement between the largest law firms is reasonably rare. Positions often get filled by candidates from strong provincial firms . Thus making a move to a more provincial firm does not automatically rule out a move to city centre firm later on.

When starting your job search it is definitely worth considering opportunities in far off locations. The moral is try it, you just might like it!

For more information contact Nic Fear on 0845 241 0933.