Surrey Junior Law Division discusses the impact of COVID-19 on legal recruitment with Chadwick Nott’s Penny Heighway

Surrey JLD: How has the Coronavirus pandemic affected legal recruitment?

Penny: I think Chadwick Nott have remained busier than some other consultancies as we cover the whole country and specialise in locum and in-house work as well as traditional private practice permanent legal recruitment. However we have still seen a marked reduction in active roles where firms are looking to recruit and are willing to go through the whole process remotely. But we are now seeing more and more firms happy to progress with their recruitment in this way which is good news.

Surrey JLD: How is the job market looking?

Penny: Pre COVID, I was dealing with a situation where there were lots of jobs and not enough candidates, but this has now turned on its head. Over a very short time we saw a large reduction in the number of firms seriously looking to recruit and who were only proceeding with business critical roles. We are predicting a quieter than usual summer particularly for NQ roles, although we are hopeful that things will pick up in September, provided we continue as currently with lockdown easing. I must say, with many on furlough I am appreciating the opportunity to be able to speak to candidates more freely, rather than taking quick calls over a lunchbreak or after work! All of our teams are still working and the consultants in them are busy.

Surrey JLD: Are there a larger number of candidates as a result of redundancies from COVID-19 or have people been seeking new opportunities?

Penny: There seems to be a real mix of different situations. There are trainees, soon to be NQs, who are worried about having a job on qualification, more senior lawyers who are concerned about redundancies when they return to work from furlough leave and also those who have recently joined new firms and are worried they will be ‘last in, first out’. I have spoken with a lot of people who are not out of work yet but who are keen to get an idea of what the market is like “just in case”. There are also some unfortunately who have been made redundant.

Surrey JLD: What areas are doing well?

Penny: For us in the South East, the busiest areas are currently family, private client and employment. I have both candidates and roles in these areas at the moment. Experienced lawyers in these practice areas are now seeing they are at a premium and are seeking perhaps to be better remunerated in this more favourable market for them. The corporate and commercial market is interesting. Although the work in this area appears to be quieter within law firms, I think those teams were already very lean and firms do not want to lose good people who they have found hard to recruit for in the past. They can also possibly move around within the firm (for example moving into insolvency work), so firms are doing their best to keep a hold of them.

Surrey JLD: What about NQ roles?

Penny: I have had some sad conversations with soon-to-be NQs. Some still don’t know when they will be able to qualify and many firms are not taking on the numbers of NQs that they would have done in previous years.

Surrey JLD mentioned the updates from the SRA regarding the process for qualification and furlough leave.

Penny: There are very few NQ positions across the country. I have seen a few roles coming in from smaller firms looking for a solicitor say with 1-2 years PQE who might well consider an NQ if they have good previous paralegal experience.

Usually at this time of year firms are asking their departments whether there will be a need for an NQ and then talking to their own trainees. Those firms would then be speaking to us and asking us to help with recruiting where they can’t fill the positions internally. This is not currently happening and is very likely not to happen this summer, certainly not on the scale we are used to. I think that it is interesting that I have heard from many NQs that they would like to qualify into family and private client, whereas previously many would be saying commercial or corporate law. All I would say to any NQ is that I have seen two recessions and we have come out the other side with a shortage of lawyers who are then highly sought after. If they can get through this then I am sure the same will happen – hang in there!

It maybe that to stay in work you might need to think slightly laterally at this time about practice areas, type of firm, going in-house, to a local authority, working on a fixed term contract or as a locum for a while. I would say, do not worry too much about what this will look like on your CV – we will all remember this as a tricky time and this can easily be explained later down the line.

Surrey JLD: How are interviews taking place? Are there multiple video calls with candidates?

Penny: This is changing all the time but people are getting the hang of video conferencing software, such as Zoom. Certain teams, even within firms may be more wary of it, but I have recently placed a candidate in a very client facing role who was offered a job after x2 interviews via Zoom and a virtual tour of the office!

Surrey JLD: Are candidates who have gained new roles still being taken on by the new firm?

Penny: I think that this is quite case specific. I have seen a couple of firms ask to push back start dates and also some lawyers want to start later as they have childcare issues etc. Another firm has reduced working hours from full time to part time for the first 3 months. We have also spoken to candidates who have come to us looking for a new role as they have had firms ask them not to start having signed contracts. This is really painful for them but unfortunately is becoming more common.

Surrey JLD: Do you have any thoughts on how things might look in the future?

Penny: I think that many of the issues faced will depend on the clients of the firm. For example Commercial teams with an aviation client might well find instructions down but the employment team could be very busy drafting compromise agreements. There are also many positives coming from the crisis, for example firms more happy to allow their staff to work from home and some firms have noted that productivity has improved.

The landscape is going to certainly shift as a result of the current situation, we just have to be inventive and flexible to make the most of the opportunities which are there. ■