As recently as 2014 London accounted for around 50% of all the legal hires in England & Wales.

As 2017 gathers pace, that figure is now nearer 30%. Clearly, the legal landscape is in the midst of disruption.

As a rule of thumb, taking salary and office costs into consideration, having an associate working in the regions is a 30% saving over London. With flexible working hours starting to be more common and Skype-style visual contact becoming the norm, there is less need to be present in an office all the time anyway. Throw in the fact that with high-speed trains, London is easily commutable for important or regular meetings from most major cities within two hours; then the regions become an attractive option for both employer and employee.

So is it simply cost that continues to prompt the major firms to open and expand regional practices? The answer is no – and one other major reason is the biggest change to law firms (possibly) ever. Lawtech. While Lawtech is a term that covers anything to do with IT and its impact on the legal market, by far the biggest disruption happening is AI (artificial intelligence). With not an insignificant investment, law firms can automate much of the work currently being done by associates to a machine and a machine operator. The machine operator can be a technically skilled jack of all trades and master of none. With machines producing 70% or more of the information a partner or associates needs within minutes instead of an experienced associate pouring over case law for hours, why pay an associate a 6-8 PQE salary when an experienced paralegal can do as good a job? While at the moment AI is a huge investment in time and money, that will decrease over the next two to three years, making at least some form of AI affordable for most law firms.

Clearly, from a client facing perspective, the experienced senior associate is still required. The emphasis for law firms to keep employing associates has to be on fee earning ability and for those with a following. Business development skills have then moved up the priority list on job descriptions. Taking all the above into account the London market for legal jobs is slowly starting to shift more to the employer holding most of the cards when choosing who to hire. Three or four years ago the employer had competition to hire the strongest candidate from other employers. In three or four years’ time it could be that the strong candidate has competition from other strong candidates to be hired by just one employer. In the meantime, the more cost-effective regional associate or paralegal remains highly desirable.

Before you go setting your sites on London, look to the regions. The vibe and cost of living in Manchester, coupled with a growing legal community makes it a really attractive option. Even if it does rain on 43% of the days of the year!

 

By Runo Ahmed

Senior Legal Recruitment Specialist at Ambipro