Solicitor vacancies increase across England and Wales

Vacancies for solicitors grew by 40 per cent in 2015 with the technology and insurance practices seeing the biggest increases, a new survey has found.

In London, there was a 41 per cent increase in vacancies with nearly 350 positions for lawyers in Magic Circle and US-headquartered firms. This represented a 57 per cent increase on 2014.

Hogan Lovells and Clifford Chance were the biggest recruiters while 'Silver Circle' firms Pinsent Masons and Dentons Europe came out top of the 'other firms' pile in the City, which saw over 1,100 jobs advertised after a 39 per cent rise.

Traditionally strong practice areas for these firms continued to dominate the marketplace at the elite firms.

Banking and finance alone represented just under a quarter of all roles, while corporate, mergers and acquisitions, and real estate were each close to 10 per cent of the haul.

Real Estate vacancies in particular grew significantly compared to 2014, more than doubling. The other two areas grew more slowly, however, both below the 57 per cent average across Magic Circle and US firms.

The specialisms which saw the biggest growth in London were risk management within insurance practices and technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT).

Mirroring the top-tier firms, tech and insurance were the fastest-growing smaller practice areas in the 'other firms' category. However, unlike those top firms, vacancies in regulatory practices grew slower than average.

Although there are 150 firms in this market segment, it was found to be top-heavy, with the busiest 19 firms offering half of all the vacancies.

Outside of London, there were 3,900 vacancies across the England and Wales, 40 per cent more than in 2014.

Opportunities in the South East grew by 45 per cent, making it the second biggest region of growth behind London. Bristol (284), Birmingham (273), and Manchester (269) were the cities that offered the most vacancies.

The regions with the least vacancies were East Anglia and Wales, despite the latter offering 59 additional vacancies - a 70 per cent rise on 2014.

Meanwhile, the demand for in-house lawyers increased by 74 per cent with over 1,500 positions advertised.

The financial services industry offered the most roles over the year: nearly 600 were advertised, 38 per cent of all in-house vacancies. Technology, media, and telecoms was the second-busiest industry, but offered only 21 per cent of roles by comparison.