Rozie Hunter, Director, reviews the North East private practice market in 2024 and looks ahead to the new year.
From Rozie Hunter
Following what seemed like a slower start than in previous years, the legal market in 2024 is ending on a high.
A number of significant lateral hires across the board for the likes of DACB, Womble Bond Dickinson, Knights, Ward Hadaway and DWF have all brought exciting new opportunities, with new teams being developed across a variety of disciplines.
Transactional practice areas
Real estate and corporate have topped the leader board as the busiest transactional practice areas, at both the junior and senior end.
There continues to be a huge demand for corporate, in particular, with a number of firms looking at succession planning opportunities into the new year.
Real estate has been particularly busy, with a number of junior moves, but, most interestingly, residential development has seen its busiest year yet, with a significant number of moves, and still more open vacancies within the mid-size and national firms.
Contentious disciplines
Across the contentious disciplines, employment and property litigation have been, by far, the busiest practice areas. There is a real shortage of property litigation specialists in the North East, with the majority of solicitors looking after a range of disputes rather than a primary focus on a single specialist area.
Private client
Across personal services, private client continues to be very busy, with lawyers at both the junior and senior end in high demand.
Family, too, in both private and public specialisms have been highly sought-after, and continue to be so.
However with little movement at the senior end, firms are struggling to hire, despite some fantastic opportunities being available.
Homecomers
Finally, and most excitingly, 2024 has seen us welcome a number of 'homecomers' returning to the North East, after years further south, or even abroad.
The North East is such a fantastic place to call home (I should know, I spend so much time there!), so it is no surprise that so many people want to return home, and it is always my pleasure to help with a relocation.
Exciting developments
2025 is already lined up to a busy year, with a number of partner moves on the horizon and even some new offices opening across the region. For now my lips are sealed, but keep your eyes on bcllegal.com for updates.
