London's Battle For Talent

There is no doubt that last couple of years have provided numerous challenges.

That said, 2021 saw Private equity and M&A hit record numbers in terms of deal value and volume, we’ve seen a ridiculously active real estate and yes, although there has been a downturn in deal making this year, the demand for M&A, PE, Real Estate and Finance (particularly leveraged/acquisition and Real Estate) and funds lawyers remains high in the city.

The fight for legal talent in London is still as lively as ever and it feels like every other day we see announcements of firms raising NQ salaries (and some resisting temptation e.g. Linklaters) in a bid to retain and also attract new talent. In the past few weeks we have seen firms such as Baker McKenzie (£110,000), CMS (£100,000) and HSF (£120,000) increase their NQ salaries.

Candidates looking to move remain at a premium which has further opened the door for candidates from other common law jurisdictions such as New Zealand, Australia, Sg and also South Africa to make the move to London.

I am not saying I work with every law firm in London and aware of every vacancy there is (that would be silly wouldn’t it), but if you are a banking, real estate/real estate finance, corporate or funds lawyer either in London or elsewhere considering your options, please feel free to reach out whether it’s to find out more about the market or explore what sort of opportunities could be out there for you.

Afraz Sajadi, Senior Legal Recruiter