Ireland’s legal recruitment sector has seen significant change and growth over the past decade, thanks in large part to the effects of the recession. According to Jonathan Brady (pictured), co-founder of Aperture Partners, a Dublin-based legal and finance recruitment firm, clients looked beyond the traditional Top Five legal firms post-recession, amid increased pressure to reduce costs.

“As a result, we have seen phenomenal growth of commercial law firms who, in terms of numbers, would have previously been outside of this ‘top tier’,” Brady adds. The increased competitiveness in the Irish legal market has in turn increased competition for talent recruitment, while qualified legal personnel have become even more likely to look for work abroad.

Founded in 2015, Aperture opened Dublin and London legal and regulatory recruitment practices simultaneously. Barry Crushell, associate director with Aperture, says that the increasing internationalisation of laws and regulations has resulted in a greater synergy between lawyers practising within different jurisdictions, and more recruitment of lawyers between these different jurisdictions. Talent drain is therefore a challenge that is constantly on the horizon for Irish legal recruiters.

Says Crushell: “London, in particular, remains an extremely attractive proposition to many candidates, especially newly qualified or junior solicitors. In terms of salary expectations, the London market can be quite lucrative. In general, a solicitor from an Irish commercial law firm could expect to be paid at least their equivalent salary, in sterling, with a Magic or Silver Circle firm, often more.”

Crushell adds that recent trends suggest that one in five newly qualified solicitors from large commercial practices will relocate abroad within the first two years. “Having said that, most candidates do not stay abroad indefinitely, and typically return after three to four years, their experience being highly valued by Irish commercial law firms.”

In Association with

Another challenge cited by smaller legal firms is the competition for talent with the big multinational companies, who are building their own in-house legal teams by snapping up the best candidates available in Ireland.

According to Rory McCormick, Aperture’s other co-founder: “Given the increased competitiveness within the legal recruitment market, the larger law firms have begun to look beyond their usual recruiting grounds. Newly qualified and experienced solicitors from mid-ranking firms, and occasionally smaller niche practices, are finding more opportunities available to them within the larger commercial tier.”

Remuneration

McCormick also notes that there can often be a significant gap in terms of the remuneration package between the larger commercial firms and all others. “Many mid-sized and smaller practices are not in a position to financially compete with their larger competitors,” he says.

Salary trends in legal recruitment continue to reflect the pressure on finding talent, as well as the different playing fields that operate between small, mid-sized and big legal practices.

According to Morgan McKinley’s 2016 Legal Salary and Benefits Guide, a talent shortage exists at entry to mid-levels, typically for candidates with two to five years of post-qualification experience who can join at the junior end of a legal team. The firm adds that there is also demand at the more senior levels dependent on the needs of specific firms and teams.

A newly qualified solicitor joining an in-house legal team in Dublin is looking at a salary of between €45,000 and €65,000. A senior lawyer, with at least five years’ experience, will typically draw down a salary of between €80,000 and €150,000 in a Dublin in-house legal team.

In private practice, Morgan McKinley estimates that a solicitor in Dublin with three to five years’ experience can command a salary of between €65,000 and €80,000. Aperture’s Jonathan Brady says that the gap in salary for a newly qualified solicitor from a small practice, when compared with their counterpart from a larger commercial practice, could be as much as €30,000, with medium-sized practices falling somewhere in between.

He adds: “This gap in remuneration tends to continue and widen as a solicitor progresses. As a result of increased demand for legal talent among the larger practices, as well as in-house, management at many of the larger firms have been keen to maintain, or exceed, market salary expectations. Many larger firms are also competing with their London or international counterparts.”