The top legal updates from 2018

The legal market has seen plenty of changes throughout 2018, with the introduction of GDPR, and the uncertainty of Brexit, which is fast approaching. We have seen firms expanding their reach overseas to create business relationships, as well as a cultural shift, with businesses focusing on the wellbeing and happiness of their employees. Here are some of the key updates from the legal sector, in 2018.

Key skills and trends

We’ve seen there has been a widening skills gap across all industries in today’s market, and here are some of the top skills and experience you can look for in a legal professional.
  • Cross-border collaboration – Teams have become much more cross-jurisdictional and collaborative, and firms have been keen to hire candidates with specific cross-qualification in order to help bridge the gap between offices. 
  • Multilingual law – With the uncertainty of Brexit, firms have been keen to strengthen the bonds with their European offices to ensure that they could continue to offer global solutions to clients.
  • Cultural shifts – We have seen shifts to meet the demands of a modern workforce, such as flexible working, downtime, and performance-based bonuses.
With the growing demand for top talent, it is important for organisations to do all that they can to attract and retain the top candidates on the market. Making some company culture alterations can help an organisation to grow, and maintain a happy workforce.

Tips on hiring the best commercial lawyers

Throughout 2018, we were often asked by heads of commercial teams – how to stop their best commercial lawyers making the move in-house. This question has been difficult to answer, as there are perceptions around in-house roles and how they differ from private practice, some of these include:
  • Better work/life balance and flexibility 
  • Being closer to the commercial rationale behind decisions and strategies
  • Move away from targets/time recording
  • The chance to be involved in big-ticket projects from inception to completion
  • Better pay and benefits
It is important to aim to be competitive with your offering to your lawyers. Offering flexible working, talking regularly about career development and aspirations, being open-minded about the candidates you are hiring (in terms of qualification and experience). It is good to outline that private practice lawyers can get more exposure to a range of clients and work, as opposed to in-house positions where that variety can be lacking.

GDPR and how legal teams have prepared

The introduction of GDPR saw a massive change in every industry across the UK. Prior to the implementation of GDPR, we gave an update on how to prepare your legal teams and what next steps to take when tackling this new legislation.
  • Structural changes – Ensuring that your teams were prepped and ready to tackle GDPR would have lessened the need for structural changes. Firms may have been looking to bring in more Data protection officer’s to assist with the introduction of GDPR.
  • Information Security – Sharing data and documentation with clients required a more strategic approach. Grouping together a combination of security and usability, whilst still maintaining a high level of service to your clients had the potential to cause strain within businesses.
  • Audit – Having someone with strong auditing experience was beneficial to keep on top of regulatory requirements.
  • Communications experts – Thinking carefully about your communications, and making sure to put your message across effectively from a client experience became increasingly important.
If you have any questions about the current legal market, or you would like to find out more from one of our specialist recruitment consultants get in touch today. Alternatively, if you are looking to hire in the legal sector, submit a job spec.