Charlotte Newton, Director, discusses the North West private practice market in 2024 and shares her thoughts on the year ahead
From Charlotte Newton
2024 has been a successful year for the North West Private Practice team. We have helped a range of law firms recruit, from NQ to Partner level, across the region.
Areas of opportunity
In the latter half of the year we have seen an upturn in real estate roles across the North West. After a pause in real estate recruitment last year, due to economic conditions, we are now working with several firms who are looking to grow and invest heavily in their Northern offices.
There is still increasing demand for energy real estate lawyers, with this being a growing area of law.
We have seen an increase in roles with an energy and infrastructure focus, across a number of disciplines, including commercial and projects.
Construction has remained busy, both on the contentious and non-contentious side, with law firms looking to recruit at NQ to Partner level across the North West. The competition for talent remains high in a relatively small market.
We have found that employment and litigation have remained consistently busy throughout the year.
The Employment Rights Bill has led to an increasing demand for employment lawyers, as businesses navigate these forthcoming changes to employment law.
There is still a demand for experienced commercial lawyers in private practice, and we have worked with several candidates this year looking to transition back into private practice from in-house roles.
Building on last year, demand for public procurement lawyers has continued to increase following the granting of Royal Assent to the Procurement Bill in 2023.
Corporate teams have remained very busy, particularly pre-Budget and in response to the increase in Capital Gains Tax. We have, in particular, seen demand for corporate lawyers at the mid-senior level, with teams needing experienced lawyers to handle the increased workload.
Looking before they leap
The change in government, and economic uncertainty, has led lawyers to hesitate before moving roles and potentially jeopardising their job security. We have also found recruitment to be much more considered, with firms needing to check national utilisation levels thoroughly before releasing roles to the market.
We have generally seen less “speculative” recruitment. However, this means that live roles have been through an even more rigorous sign-off process and are driven by a genuine need to recruit.
So, there is an argument that vacancies are much more 'secure' now than in previous years.
Salaries and expectations
As expected, salaries have increased slightly this year. We have seen NQ salaries rise by around £2,000 and we expect this to be replicated in 2025. However, rising inflation may see law firms react and increase salaries accordingly.
The majority of firms are now expecting lawyers to be in the office three days a week. We have seen several firms increase their office attendance from two to three days.
The year ahead
So, what does 2025 look like? We would expect it to be similar to 2024 – recruitment will remain considered with a steady job flow.
We expect employment and litigation to remain busy. We also predict there will be an increase in real estate roles, at all levels, across the North West.
