The word on hiring

Demand for newly qualified lawyers on the high street looks likely to continue, but recruitment in financial services is set to be flat, according to legal recruiter Badenoch & Clark.

“Recession-proof” practice areas, such as litigation, arbitration, white-collar crime, restructuring, insolvency and regulatory, are likely to see growth, particularly in the first half of 2012.

Local government is likely to rely on locums but there may be a rise in demand for corporate governance specialists in the first half of 2012 as local authorities get to grips with the Localism Act.

Duncan Ward, Badenoch’s operations director, legal, says: “High street firms are increasingly favouring newly qualified lawyers with up to two years PQE as market rates for this level of experience are relatively low and affordable. With a reduced level of economic activity it is likely that recruitment will slow down within transactional practice areas such as banking and corporate but once stability and growth return we would expect hiring to pick up.”