CVs: Lawyers cautious about moving jobs
Three-quarters of law firms and in-house legal departments have found it difficult to hire staff in the last 12 months, new research has found.
The biggest challenges were matching salary expectations, cited by more than half (52%) of firms, and finding candidates with the right skills, mentioned by 43%, according to the 2025 salary guides issued by recruiters Michael Page.
An additional 57% reported that work/life balance has affected employee retention, with 48% also saying career progression has impacted the number of workers staying in role.
Researchers said candidates were “much more” cautious about moving, and so organisations had to be “increasingly agile in their approach to hiring whether that’s through pay or overall package”.
Work-life balance was rated as important to job satisfaction by 61% of lawyers, compared to only 35% saying salary or career progression.
The desire among law firms to adopt artificial intelligence meant “an increased demand for legal professionals with specialist knowledge in AI and innovation who can help businesses navigate these complexities and ensure they are compliant when using the technology”.
When it came to in-house, Michael Page said there had been a surge in demand for “flexible, affordable and interim legal resource”.
“Businesses require support and access to something more flexible than the traditional way, and so we’re seeing teams placed into organisations on a temporary basis as a flexible resource for a set period of time to carry out specific projects rather than hiring a permanent lawyer that may not be needed in three months.
“As a result, the speed to hire for interim lawyers and other roles has shortened compared to what we saw in 2024.”
Tom Hart, associate director at Michael Page, added: “Throughout the legal industry, we’re continuing to see hiring managers struggle to source candidates with the right set of skills for their team.
“There are plenty of options available to businesses to ensure they’re not falling foul of mismatched expectations – from looking at total package offers, where salary is bolstered by other provisions, through to benchmarking salaries against the industry standard.
“It’s important for businesses to articulate what sets them apart and ensure they’re not falling behind in the race for top talent.”
The biggest issue seems to be that law firms and in-house departments are being completely unrealistic with their salaries and entry requirements. There are plenty of capable graduates looking for jobs, but almost all of these organisations are unwilling to take on graduates without previous experience. Moreover, the salaries on offer for paralegal and legal assistant jobs are below what they ought to be – especially when they’re asking for previous experience. I’ve personally seen a number of firms and in-house departments offering graduate level salaries, whilst requesting candidates have several years of experience. It’s untenable, frankly. If you want jobs to be filled, you’re going to have to be willing to take on graduates and invest in them yourselves. All that’s happening at the moment is that there’s a bottleneck of graduates unable to find employment, whilst firms are simultaneously claiming they have no-one to fill the vacancies they advertise for.