New year, new job?

According to a report, ‘2021 in review: UK legal labour market trends’, by recruiters BCL Legal and data analytics firm Vacancysoft, legal jobs doubled in 2021 across England and Wales. By the end of 2021, private practice hiring was up 112% on the previous year, with the larger law firms recording an average three-to-four times more vacancies.

Eversheds Sutherland had the highest volume of vacancies, with a 253% year-on-year rise in new jobs. Pinsent Masons had the fastest growth, recording 562% more new jobs compared to 2020.

DAC Beachcroft, DWF, Addleshaw Goddard and Mills & Reeve also more than doubled their legal hires. TLT more than tripled, and Clifford Chance almost quintupled, recruitment on the previous year.

Mary Nowell, managing director at BCL Legal, said: ‘Last year was unprecedented in the legal recruitment sector.

‘In all regional markets and almost all disciplines, demand outstripped supply and firms were left to revise recruitment strategies to attract new talent, while also ensuring they retained talent to avoid further exacerbating the problem. It was a perfect storm; increasing work levels, flexible working policies emerging at most law firms and an increasingly mobile workforce adding pressure on almost all talent pools.’

In private practice, real estate was the most sought-after area. Legal vacancies in financial services doubled in 2021. However, banking produced the most vacancies, with hiring levels up 111%. Vacancies for lawyers in accounting and consultancy, and in insurance also rose.

In terms of sector, tech continues to be the largest employer of legal specialists, and recorded more than 800 legal vacancies in 2021 (a 90% rise). Demand soared in the energy and utilities sector, with a 94% rise in vacancies.