March 26, 2014
As part of “The Qualification Season” – seminars and a series of blogs by CapeClarke aimed at trainee solicitors looking to qualify in September 2014 – we will give a brief overview of the market conditions affecting many of the core legal disciplines that trainee solicitors look to qualify into.
The next area of law for discussion is Projects and PFI.
The Current Market: The Projects market seemed quite tough throughout 2010 and early 2011, not helped by a much more frugal approach to spending by the public sector than in previous years. However, projects teams in Leeds and Manchester seem to have been busy in the past couple of years and there has certainly been some movement at the mid-level.
Is this a good career option? Projects work is the preserve of the top-tier, with one or two notable exceptions, and so come with the large transactional work, top-tier packages. On the other hand, solicitors can carry out a lot of work working on tenders and business development without being able to record chargeable hours. This is another area where there has been a real shortage of solicitors (although some firms have moved, for instance, property solicitors into the team to bolster numbers) and so the ability to move law firms is traditionally a lot easier than other transactional disciplines. It also opens up the ability to move into local authority if that is of interest.
September 2014 opportunities: We would expect to see a number of NQ positions arise internally to give support to the hard-working mid-level associate. Externally, the market was quite light a couple of years ago but projects teams seem to be in much more confident mood in 2014, so we hope to see a small number of external NQ solicitor positions.
If you would like to discuss this blog, have been thinking about a move or would just like some general advice about options in the market, please feel free to contact Terry Cape or Chris Clarke on 0113 2385965.
CapeClarke is a leading niche legal recruitment consultancy operating across Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle, Liverpool and London. Please feel free to check out our priority legal vacancies by clicking here. Please note these legal vacancies are only a small selection of those we have been instructed on, so please get in touch if you do not see a role which looks suitable.
