Articles From the Team

First impressions

As I come to the end of my second month specialising in dispute resolution recruitment for BCL Legal’s London office, there are a few things which I have noticed about the current market place and some recruitment hurdles our clients have to overcome but don’t show signs of changing any time soon.

Yes, more litigators are required, but not across the board. Experienced litigators, since 2008, were the focus for new hires, a safe pair of hands to weather the storm. Today, this creates a real shortage of candidates between 2-5 years PQE, a knock on effect of the recession and the impact that had on the retention of trainees. So within this bracket, it appears to be a candidate led market.

Secondly, there are some key sectors which are noticeably busy; Construction, Financial Services and General Commercial Litigation to name a few. But as above, the focus remains on the 2-5 PQE mark, this can be seen creeping down towards the NQ level given the time of year but fundamentally remains unchanged. Having said this, it doesn’t mean other sectors aren’t equally busy, the same struggles remain in very niche sectors. With very few experienced litigators available in the media or energy sectors, as an example, there remains a premium on your skills if you happen to posses the relevant experience.

So what I can say from my relatively short time here is that the market is busy, demand is very much there. The problem of supply of top quality candidates remains. Our clients work hard to attract but work equally hard to retain which is creating further competition; the resurgence of strong counter offers only compounds the issue. What‘s clear, to me, is now is a great time to be a candidate given the current market conditions.

For more information please contact Tyler Fitzpatrick on 0203 651 5717 or visit our website BCL Legal.