April 8, 2013
As part of The Qualification Season – a series of blogs by CapeClarke aimed at trainee solicitors looking to qualify in September 2013- 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 Commercial Litigation.
The Current Market: Commercial litigation solicitors are benefiting from a strong, stable market with teams generally quite active. There has not quite been the explosion of litigation that legal professionals believed would happen – perhaps due to a lack of money to pursue claims, making litigation an expensive act of principle. That said, commercial litigation solicitors are certainly not under-utilised and there have been a number of high-profile contentious matters this year. This has led to steady growth, or consolidation, at law firms. There have been a few opportunities in the market, but not quite as many as was to be expected.
Is this a good career option? We consider commercial litigation to be a very good area to qualify into – there has been a real skill shortage of quality litigators and there have been various jobs for lawyers once they have 1 or 2 years PQE under their belt. There are a number of niche litigation firms, particularly Stewarts Law, who operate at the highest level. Due to the growing popularity of trainee solicitors qualifying into commercial litigation, such roles could be more competitive in a few years time, but you will still have a number of options open to you should you wish to move law firms.
September 2013 opportunities: Judging last year’s opportunities, it is still true to say that a lot of roles will be taken by internal applications. However, we did see a good number of external vacancies appear in the market and we consider that at least a small number of roles will be available again this year. Anyone interested in qualifying into commercial litigation should speak to us about opportunities across the North as we have already been instructed on a number of vacancies for September 2013.
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, 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.
