I'm writing this on the 14th April, at a time when it feels as if the country is rushing to reopen and life is beginning to feel a little bit more normal for many people.
The first quarter of 2021 four us as a business was extremely busy and reflects the general mood of the legal industry which is gaining more and more confidence as the months roll by.
We are approaching the point where we are working on as many legal vacancies as we were prior to the pandemic at the beginning of 2020.
Areas such as real estate, banking and corporate are seeing a flurry of recruitment activity and extension of the stamp duty holiday has seen a record number of new residential conveyancing vacancies.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record the “fight for talent” when it comes to recruitment has never been more relevant and it feels as though it is going to be difficult for the industry to keep up. What I mean is that it has always been difficult to find good lawyers for jobs, but the uncertainty of the last 12 months has exacerbated this problem with many candidates who would previously have considered moving firms, retreating into their shells, and exercising a strong degree of lawyerly caution.
I sense, from speaking to partners and lawyers, that there will be a move in some quarters to start bringing staff back to the office, at least on a part time basis, over the next few months. I've also had a number of conversations with high quality junior lawyers who have been busy throughout the pandemic and not received anything like they were expected to in terms of salary increases and bonus payments. Where the business will be extremely interested to see how this pans out over the course of the next six months.
In terms of Thornton legal as a business we have made a number of great placements into a variety of roles including pensions , real estate development , private and public family home residential property, amongst others.
What has been extremely interesting is that law firms are increasingly willing to hire junior level paralegals and legal assistance in a way that they were reluctant to for most of last year.
We very much hope that the combination of the third lockdown and the magnificent vaccination rollout ensures that the recovery continues unabated and I'm able to report similar successes in July.
Until then, stay safe and good luck.