Given the unpredictability of the recruitment market post-Lehman it is more important than ever that those of us in this industry are up to speed with, and ideally a step ahead of any changes.  It is not easy to spot a pattern at present, but with the help of our software partners we are able to monitor every new legal job advertised with a major commercial firm across the global market, and some notable trends have emerged:

• Banking and Finance remains the dominant area of recruitment in the London market with 17% of new roles (ytd).
• Real Estate has roused from its slumber with 18% of new roles advertised in the last 3 months connected to Property.
• The number of roles advertised in a month in London has varied from 50+ (Jan & Mar) to mid 20's (Jul).
• Encouragingly August was a relatively busy month with over 40 new roles despite the annual summer exodus.
• Corporate, TMT, Litigation/CDR and Employment jobs are also consistently coming to market.

Further afield the trends include:

• 25% of new roles advertised in Sydney (ytd) and 39% of new roles advertised in Hong Kong are in Banking & Finance. 
• The Sydney market has been consistently busy with more than twice as many roles advertised as in Hong Kong or Dubai.
• Litigation has well and truly arrived in the Middle East, accounting for almost a quarter of new jobs (ytd).  
• Hong Kong remains the dominant market for recruitment in Asia; and perhaps more surprisingly, likewise for Dubai in the Middle East.
• With Singapore currently far more buoyant than HK in investment banking recruitment, will the legal recruitment market follow suit?

Largely these trends support what we are seeing day to day - the month on month vacancy figures have yet to show any notable decline in the face of heightened economic uncertainty and whilst we are not close to the hiring frenzy of pre-2009, vacancies are outstripping candidates in several practice areas.  It is of course too early to draw any concrete conclusions but perhaps in the current climate, simply being in a sector where there are enough new vacancies to monitor for trends is reason for celebration in itself!

Jason Horobin is a Director of Gladwin Law.  If you would like to discuss this post or indeed any aspect of the legal recruitment market please contact him in confidence on +44 (0)20 7096 1681 or email jason@gladwinlaw.com.  

All data provided by our software partners vacancysoft.