Employment Lawyers could benefit from Brexit decision

Posted in Latest News on 24 Jun 2016

Having got intoxicated on the fumes of democracy I wonder if the rest of the country woke up this morning and like me thought, oh no what have we done? However, Brexit is now a reality and although it could take two years to extricate ourselves from Europe the immediate consequence could be hundreds of thousands of British choosing to holiday at home this year; through shame, not just the cost of buying a Euro.

Although legally the government is under no obligation to act on the will of the small majority there is little doubt it will. Judging by the markets the world’s financial experts and the people in charge of investing peoples’ pensions seem to think it is a bad idea. A sentiment echoed by the legal profession; 57% of the 521 lawyers we surveyed a few weeks back were in favour of staying in the EU. At the time Douglas Scott Managing Director Kath Riley was quite prophetic when she played her hand and commented "I will be voting to stay in the EU as I think it makes sense on a personal and commercial level. However it would be wrong to underestimate the depth of underlying dissatisfaction that exists in the electorate. The outcome of the referendum is not as cut and dried as some people think."

So what of the future in legal? At the start of the year record numbers of Solicitors were employed in the profession and the sector was on track for some pretty healthy growth. However the legal sector follows the fortunes of the economy, this was apparent in the last recession the country experienced. I have heard anecdotally that some exchanges on residential property were delayed pending the vote. It has been reported that a lot of investment decisions were paused in the run up to the referendum and it is possible that will remain so as a period of uncertainty crystalises. Alternatively everyone could just get on with it.

One practice area that could benefit from Brexit is Employment Law. Unfettered by the shackles of European directives, successive governments will be able to implement and repeal employment law related statute at will. Lots of change in law will of course create demand from business to interpret and embed that in the day to day contractual relationships. Things had started to get quiet in employment law recruitment recently. We have been working on some pretty meaty private practice and in-house employment law opportunities but employment lawyers have been demonstrating a reluctance to move. That’s because, according to the research we undertook when producing our 2016 Salary and Benefits Benchmarker, it is one of the least fluid practice areas with only 19% of the talent pool looking to move jobs at any time compared to the 32% average across all practice areas.

If you are an Employment Solicitor or Lawyer ready to progress or leverage your experience to secure an average pay rise of 30% then you should get in touch. Call the office that is most local to you or I tell you what send your CV or contact details to me and I will ensure that an experienced legal recruitment, most appropriate to your requirement, gets in touch.

Let’s get on with it.

Jonathan Nolan 
Director

jon@douglas-scott.co.uk

London 0203 846 3071 | Birmingham 0121 272 7371 | Manchester 0161 233 6360 | 0113 467 7571

Share this post