Introduction
In this article we briefly discuss and comment on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on staff at legal firms. Bear in mind that no two firms have the same business needs or office arrangements, so their practices and treatment of staff can vary widely. Here we consider items such as staff working from home, reduced working hours and pay, furloughing, redundancies, trainee retention/ NQ jobs and recruitment.
[Read more…]Redundancies as a result of coronavirus are going to be inevitable in a lot of law firms, and they have already started in some firms. As the furlough scheme winds down and if law firm income does not return to its pre-coronavirus levels, it is anticipated there will be more.
If you are on furlough leave or working in an area where your work has decreased, you may want more certainty from your employer about whether your role is safe from redundancy but, in many cases, law firms won’t be able to provide this clarity because it depends on work levels returning to normal, which is currently being monitored.
[Read more…]The economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic are having a big impact on law firms and will affect their jobs and recruitment.
With this Covid-19 outbreak legal work has been reduced suddenly and significantly with overall revenues down considerably. It is also taking longer for firms to get paid for work already done (or, in the worst cases, not getting paid at all) and this has become a big problem for many firms. Bear in mind most firms still carry most pre-virus operating expenses such as staff wages, insurance and rent (furlough leave if it has been taken up, only helps to a limited extent). And these firms have a lot less revenue coming in.
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The Norfolk & Norwich Law Society is celebrating the achievements of the region’s trainees and junior lawyers, along with the outstanding achievements throughout the year, with the NNLS Excellence Awards 2019.
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Over the past year or so, subtle changes have been taking place in the job market for lawyers. Some of these are due to supply and demand factors while others are due to external influences such as “Brexit”. But, in general, the overall market for lawyers remains strong. [Read more…]
The Norfolk & Norwich Law Society Excellence Awards 2018, sponsored by Olsen Recruitment, were presented at the annual Law Society Dinner on 21 September 2018 by Sue Bailey, President of the Norfolk & Norwich Law Society. [Read more…]
Olsen Recruitment is once again sponsoring the Norfolk & Norwich Law Society’s Excellence Awards 2018. The categories and shortlist is below [Read more…]
When a solicitor or other lawyer is approached about a particular opportunity or is open to the possibility of a move, it is desirable to know what their reasons are for considering such a move. This helps ensure all sides understand each other and any potential outcome is a good one.
There are six main reasons why lawyers will look to move on from their current firm. [Read more…]
A following or loyal client base can be highly beneficial if you are considering a move to another law firm. It is particularly attractive to firms considering senior “new hires”. Having one is also likely to mean your overall job security is very good. [Read more…]
The Norfolk & Norwich Law Society Excellence Awards 2017, sponsored by Olsen Recruitment, were presented at the annual Law Society Dinner on 21 September 2017 by David Richards, President of the Norfolk & Norwich Law Society and Clive Coleman, English Barrister turned BBC News Legal Correspondent. [Read more…]
The shortlist of nominations for the Trainee Lawyer of the Year and Junior Lawyer of the Year is as follows.
Trainee Lawyer of the Year
Background
Since 1964 and up until July 2013, individuals were not required to pay any fees to take their claims to a tribunal (Parliament, UK).
From July 2013, the coalition government put a fee system in place, meaning that any individual who wanted to take their claim to an employment tribunal, had to pay a fee to do so. Those fees varied according to the type of claim and the person’s individual wealth. [Read more…]
Last night’s Law Society Treasure Hunt, sponsored by Olsen Recruitment, kicked off in Norwich’s St Andrews Tavern from 6 pm. More than 15 teams from law firms and professional services firms went on a pub crawl across various venues in Norwich in an attempt to find the quiz answers. A buffet and informal networking followed from 8.30 pm and the event concluded at 9.45 pm. [Read more…]
One way a recruitment agent (such as Olsen Recruitment) can help you, is to improve your CV so that the target market (usually, but not always, law firm partners) will want to take matters further and meet with you for an initial chat or interview. [Read more…]
The Norfolk & Norwich Law Society (NNLS) is celebrating the achievements of the region’s trainees and junior lawyers, along with the outstanding achievements throughout the year, with the NNLS Excellence Awards 2017 (which are sponsored by Olsen Recruitment). [Read more…]
In some states in America it has become, or is due to become, illegal for employers and recruiters to ask about current salary or historical salary. The reason is to attempt to close or significantly reduce the gender pay gap in the US. The background behind this can be summarised as follows:
Currently solicitors qualify in a number of ways. Those ways have been outlined by us in our LinkedIn post here
The most common route for a solicitor to qualify is:
Thursday 22 June 2017 from 6 pm
Registration venue: St Andrews Brew House, 41 St Andrews Street, Norwich NR2 4TP
Teams: Maximum of four people per team
Cost: £20 per team [Read more…]
Whatever your reasons might be for considering a move in-house, it is necessary to first check your career goals and then look at some of the differences between being in a private practice role and working in-house. To help you, listed below are some of the factors that you should think about before you take any action. [Read more…]
Failure to follow instructions/poor attention to detail
Follow the firm’s application details and method of selection. For example, if the instructions are a CV (two pages maximum) plus a one page cover letter addressed to a specific person, then prepare a CV (two pages maximum) plus a one page cover addressed to the specific person.
If the firm’s minimum qualification is a “2:1 degree in any discipline”, do not apply if you achieved a 2:2 or 3rd without talking to the law firm/recruitment consultant first to ask their advice. [Read more…]
Olsen Recruitment is pleased to be exhibiting at the University of East Anglia’s Legal Careers Fair on Wednesday 9 November 2016 from 12-3 pm.
Date: Tuesday 15 November 2016
Registration and Refreshments: 5:00pm welcome drinks and nibbles
Venue: The Enterprise Centre
UEA Presentation: 5:45pm – 7:00pm
Sir Brandon Gough Lecture Theatre Parking: Main UEA Carpark (£2) [Read more…]
Across East Anglia the regional economy has continued to thrive. Many law firms have made industry headlines for moving into a new office or opening a new office(s) (or both) along with expansion plans, trainee recruitment investment, internal promotions and significant lateral hires.
The Norfolk & Norwich Law Society Excellence Awards 2016, sponsored by Olsen Recruitment, were presented at the annual Law Society Dinner on 8 September 2016 by Robert Bourns, President of the Law Society of England & Wales and James Hunter, President of the Norfolk & Norwich Law Society. [Read more…]
Olsen Recruitment is proud to be sponsoring the Norfolk & Norwich Law Society’s Annual Excellence Awards. The names of the people and organisations who have been shortlisted to win one of the prestigious awards are:
The deadline for nominations for this year’s Norfolk & Norwich Law Society Excellence Awards is 26 August 2016. [Read more…]
I recently registered a lawyer in her late 50s – let’s call her “Mary” and, during the first five minutes of our meeting she asked: “Am I too old to be employable?”. My response was this: “In a nutshell, no.”
It is never a good idea to lie in the context of the recruitment and appointment process, whether it be on a CV or during an interview. The consequences can be severe. Some examples of lying are discussed below. [Read more…]
Last night’s Law Society Treasure Hunt, sponsored by Olsen Recruitment, kicked off in Norwich’s Dog House at 6 pm. More than 20 teams from law firms, in-house legal teams and professional services firms went on a pub crawl across various venues in Norwich in an attempt to find the quiz answers. A buffet and informal networking followed from 8 pm and the event concluded at 9.30 pm. [Read more…]
Olsen Recruitment, Aviva Legal Indemnities and the Norfolk and Norwich Law Society recently sponsored the Eastern Legal Support Trust’s Norwich Legal Walk, which took place on Monday 18 April 2016. The ELST raises and distributes funds to charities which provide free legal advice, help and support services to vulnerable members of the local community. [Read more…]
A counter-offer is the offer of improved terms and conditions of employment on receipt of a resignation. In practice, this might mean:
Introduction
A lateral or sideways career move is usually defined as a move to an equivalent position within a law firm or to a similar position/level in a new law firm. In both cases this means a similar job title with similar remuneration. It is now common for solicitors and partners to make at least one lateral move in their careers for a number of reasons (see next section). It is also common to see law firms take on lateral hires to fill vacancies. [Read more…]
Introduction
First of all, remember the purpose of a curriculum vitae (CV) is to help get you to an interview*. Therefore its contents must be targeted, focussed and error free, and it should not be longer than two pages.
Second, it should be set up in the generally accepted format for CVs unless the firm requires it to be in their own particular format or on a specified template.
Third, it should be printed on plain, high quality, white paper using a common 12 size font such as Times New Roman, Arial or Calibri. It should preferably not contain any underlining, italic script or odd symbols in the event it might be scanned and therefore confuse the scanning software to your detriment. Bolding is acceptable but should be limited to headings.
* Avoid using the word “résumé” which is used in America.
As in many professions, newly qualified (NQ) solicitors often move firms for the following reasons:
This article is relevant if you’re thinking about approaching the partners/directors at your current firm for a pay rise, or if you have been offered a position but feel the salary is not attractive enough for you to join the new firm. Note that a recruitment consultant is often in a good position to advise you when you have leverage to negotiate on salary – and when you do not. [Read more…]
As one of your New Year Resolutions, have you decided to move to a new job? If so, you will likely have to find a recruitment consultant you trust to help you make a smooth transition to a new position. Olsen Recruitment can help your transition from holding an initial meeting with you to arranging interviews and bringing your job search to a successful conclusion.
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Whether you’re “in the market” or not, imagine you have been approached by a recruiter about an interesting opportunity. How do you assess the opportunity? What should you do?
Imagine this scenario
You are dissatisfied at work and you see an advertisement for a position that very much interests you and or you were approached by a recruiter in relation to a particular vacancy. [Read more…]
In the UK a ‘lawyer’ is a generic term used to describe anyone who is a Licensed Legal Practitioner qualified to give legal advice. The term ‘lawyer’ therefore describes:
Staff shortages
Across Norwich and East Anglia (and further afield) there is a significant shortage of non-contentious solicitors. Actual roles which are likely to be very difficult to fill in this region include:
I have recently attended two CPD events which touched upon the effectiveness of recruitment campaigns and why it is increasingly becoming normal in human resources (HR) circles to refer to the quality/value of the recruitment process rather than the cost. For example, HR experts now look at a recruitment campaign’s quality, effectiveness, time and value rather than just its cost. [Read more…]
A large number of small, mid-size and larger law firms are regularly counter-offering their staff on receipt of a resignation. The scenario is a common one: a valued, well-respected member of staff has an interview/chat with another firm (typically, but not always, a competitor) and when they go to resign at their current firm, the firm reacts by asking that person to stay by offering an incentive to do so (typically, but not always, a higher salary, a promotion, or the future promise of one or both of these things). [Read more…]
In discussions with various law firm partners and HR managers/officers, most appear to be looking to recruit staff who: [Read more…]