Criminal lawyers top overtime charts

Criminal lawyers are the hardest working in legal profession according to a new study.

Douglas Scott Legal Recruitment has revealed that criminal lawyers work an average of 12 extra unpaid hours a week. This is the equivalent of 72 extra contractual working days in a year.

Corporate and commercial solicitors came in second, running their criminal counterparts close with an average of 11 additional hours worked per week.

General practitioners are pulling an extra ten hours a week, with litigation and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) specialists just behind with nine hours.

Insurance and personal injury lawyers clocked up eight hours, as did property and real estate practitioners.

Meanwhile, private client solicitors boast the best work-life balance, working only seven extra contractual hours a week.

The recruitment consultancy carried out the research as part of its annual salary and benefits benchmark report, which gathers data from 7,000 legal professional all over the UK. The report assesses hours worked, benefits, bonuses and career enjoyment to track the development of the legal industry and the satisfaction of those working in it.

The full breakdown of average unpaid hours worked by practice area according to Douglas Scott:

 

Practice area Private client Property and real estate Insurance and personal injury Litigation and ADR Intellectual property and information technology General practice Employment and pensions Asset, property and corporate finance Corporate and commercial Criminal

Average unpaid hours 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 11 11 12

 

John van der Luit-Drummond is legal reporter for Solicitors Journal