Articles From the Team
Is 2013 the year of the property/construction solicitor?
Is 2013 the year of the property/construction solicitor?
Almost every day I see gloomy reports in the national media about the state of the national economy. Triple dip recession, record unemployment, people not being able to afford to eat meat etc. Then I arrive at work, where BCL Legal are experiencing an exceptionally busy January. We have record numbers of vacancies and record numbers of candidates registering with us.
As some will know I am BCL Legal’s consultant who covers our recruitment into commercial disciplines in the Midlands region. This includes all commercial property/ real estate, construction, commercial, corporate, commercial litigation, employment, banking and pensions roles with private practice law firms in the West, East and South Midlands.
Whilst all of my disciplines have some activity it is property and construction that are proving the most popular for clients. The simple fact is that the depressed property market through the recession seriously limited opportunities for commercial property and construction solicitors. Now that things are picking up, we have vacancies at a variety of levels.
For commercial property solicitors we are in double figures with the number of available positions at NQ-4 PQE, there are also opportunities at associate, senior associate and partnership level. Some of these positions have a landlord and tenant focus, however there are now an equal number of development focused positions. Not to be outdone we also have vacancies in more exotic areas such as property finance.
What about construction? The resurgence in development focussed property roles is matched by construction. Certainly NQ-4 PQE construction lawyers could have opportunities with several firms, whilst we also have opportunities at senior associate level.
Why am I telling you all this? Well perhaps you were a property or construction lawyer who left the law in the recession. Perhaps you qualified in the last couple of years and had to take a non-property/ construction role because of lack of opportunity. Perhaps you work for a smaller firm and would like to step up to something bigger. Perhaps your career progression is stalled because of a top heavy team at a larger firm and you would like to join a smaller firm with a quicker route to partnership.
Perhaps it is time to dust off your CV and get in touch with BCL Legal.
For further information please contact BCL Legal or call us on 0845 241 0933.