The London Market

We are pleased to say that the legal market is finally picking up after several bleak years. Having become used to hearing of redundancies each week these have almost completely disappeared. There is still some restructuring going on but much of this is much more strategic than a rapid response to falling levels on income. In fact many firms have reported significant profitability increases on the previous year. It is not yet a completely rosy picture as most firms are cautious about the future.

Hiring activity across the City has increased significantly in all areas although firms are still insisting that applicants meet every criterion and will reject candidates who do not fit the job description precisely. As a result some jobs are remaining unfilled. We anticipate that firms will have to become more flexible in their hiring over the next few months as the shortage of skilled applicants starts to impact their ability to grow.

For the latest up to date legal news for London look at http://www.thelawyer.com/ or http://www.legalweek.com/

The Region

Unlike the other areas we have listed in this section the UK legal market has various legal publications that give detailed information on the various regions within the UK and the leading law firms.

We recommend http://www.chambersandpartners.com/UK  or http://www.legal500.com/books/l500

Salaries

Salaries are listed by firm for trainees to three years qualified on http://www.rollonfriday.co.uk/InsideInfo/UKCityFirms/tabid/68/Default.aspx for London firms and http://www.rollonfriday.co.uk/InsideInfo/UKRegionalFirms/tabid/74/Default.aspx for UK regional firms

Partner information can be found on http://www.thelawyer.com/directory/uk-200-table-top-100/ which gives profits per equity partner for the top 100 UK law firms.