With Christmas just around the corner and 2019 drawing to a cold conclusion, I thought I would write up my thoughts on another year here at Thornton Legal.
It does feel as though I was talking about Brexit 12 months ago, anticipating the whole thing concluding during the course of 2019. However, here we are in December and the same thorny issue has provided a spectral backdrop to yet another recruitment year.
I must say that in spite of the political and economic uncertainty, the legal profession, from a recruitment perspective, has proven to be a durable and indefatigable beast.
Lawyers and law firms seem to have risen to the challenge and aside from a fairly flat residential conveyancing market, recruitment into the North West and Yorkshire has been busy.
Almost all the commercial practice areas have been active and the competition for talent across the region has been fierce.
We are seeing areas such as employment, commercial litigation, pensions and banking really thriving whilst at the same time seeing a plateauing of recruitment into sectors such as real estate and other property focused areas.
We have had some comings and goings at Thornton Legal which have kept us on our toes. September saw us recruit, Tim, our first senior hire concentrating solely on the Manchester commercial market from Associate level upwards.
Tim was originally a niche legal recruiter specialising in the pensions market in London but the lure of Chester and an escape from the rat race saw him approach us on account or our location and reputation in the market! He has only been with the business for a matter of months but has made his first placement (a Senior Associate Corporate lawyer) and is making great progress in raising our profile in a competitive and ruthless Manchester market.
Talking of incomings (or is it outgoings), my business partner Joe and his wife (Jo) saw the birth of his second child, Gus, in October, so it’s been a busy old year for us all on a personal and a professional level.
One of the great things about Thornton Legal is the diversity of clients we recruit for. We enjoy working for large multi-national business in Manchester or Leeds every bit as much as to we our high street clients in Chester or Southport.
I am pleased to be able to say that it has been a record-breaking year for the business both in terms of the number of candidate placements but also the number of new clients that we have managed to do work on behalf of.
Congratulations to Laura Kate who joined us 14 months ago and has become our highest billing consultant in 2019 whilst at the same time juggling 3 children under the age of 10!
2019 also saw us host or sponsor several successful events for organisations such as Merseyside Junior Lawyers Division, Cheshire and North Wales Junior Lawyers Division, Cheshire Law Society and Cheshire & North Wales Resolution. We got to meet some great lawyers, had fun along the way and made strong connections for the future.
On a SCR/Charity front, we have sponsored fantastic organisations such as Wirral Foodbank, Wirral St John’s Hospice, Clatterbridge Big Lego Brick Hospital and Tam O’Shanter Farm. Please do click on the link for details or our chosen Charites, they do great work on the Wirral, where a number of our team live.
Joe and I are proud at what we have achieved with the business inside 4 years and are already excited at what 2020 might have to offer. For the next week or so we must navigate the relentless nature of the pre-Christmas madness before shutting the offices on 23rd December to give both us and our team a well-earned break.
So, to our fantastic client and candidates from all the team at Thornton Legal, have a very merry Christmas a suitably reflective New Year and see you all in 2020!