A recent UK wide recruitment juggernaut has indicated that they are struggling to fill the job vacancies for many important professions.
In particular, recruitment specialists, Indeed, have highlighted that solicitors are now amongst the most difficult jobs to fill in the UK.
Amongst the other top three hardest professions to match suitable candidates to vacant positions were surgeons and optometrists.
Indeed have claimed that a myriad of jobs in these professions have remained unfilled for up to 60 days.
This recruitment difficulty has been attributed to severe shortages of staff in these professions in addition to recent data suggesting that net migration to the UK is slowing due to Brexit concerns.
As fewer people choose to work in the UK and even fewer people are opting to choose law as a viable profession, the legal sector may have to brace itself for a considerable skills shortage in the future.
These statistics substantiate the concerns raised in the Annual Law Firms’ Survey 2018 where 84% of the top 100 law firms remained worried by a shortage of talent entering and remaining in the legal sector.
Bill Richards, of Indeed, said: “When demand from employers outpaces the supply of workers, it can take a long time to fill vacancies.
“The Brexit connection is hard to overlook. Many of the hardest-to-fill roles have historically been ones that were filled by EU workers drawn to the UK by Britain’s more abundant job opportunities.
“With official data showing net migration from the EU slowing, these roles are set to become even harder to fill.”
Valerie Holmes, SLC Chairperson, commented on the skills shortage in November last year by claiming: “We’ve been heading towards a skills shortage in the legal sector for several years now (especially after people left the sector during the recession and haven’t returned) and it is on my agenda to work on attracting more young people to work in Law. Young people don’t perceive the legal sector to have the same status and respect that they did say 10/20 years ago.
“Millennials tend to have multi careers and in Law you need to dedicate yourself to the profession 100% and commit to getting a training Contract.
“Those that do foray into the industry quickly have a shock because it isn’t like the TV programme Suits. Couple that with the stress, hard work and low financial benefit, it isn’t surprising that we are facing a skills shortage.
“When my firm faced this problem, our strategy was to ‘Grow Our Own’. We attracted people who would get job satisfaction out of helping people move into their dream home and being there to guide clients through one of the most stressful, emotional and expensive purchases of their life.
“Long term, PropTech and FinTech will reduce workload through automation and AI leaving Lawyers to use their expertise that technology can’t.”
Have you noticed that vacant positions are more difficult to fill? What will the implications be on the conveyancing sector?
One Response
About time too. I started working in the law in 1970 and the number of lawyers in England and Wales has gone up six-fold. This is clearly not sustainable.
Technology needs to reverse the process and those competing for places at Lawtech hubs etc should be required to demonstrate how their proposals will reduce the need for lawyers.