A client has recently asked us for some market data in order to determine where to open a new office. We thought it may be of interest generally so have published the information below.
Some years ago, we fielded a number of calls from firms around London wanting to open offices in Liverpool and Manchester. It took a while, but I eventually worked out that there was a management consultant based in the South East who had advised law firm partners that conveyancers in the North got paid less than office cleaners in the South! It is a myth of course and in fact one of the lowest salary areas in the UK for conveyancing is probably East London.
So here is our market data on candidate numbers for residential conveyancing.
We have 2,912 conveyancers of all shapes and sizes registered with us on our database out of a total of 11,973 candidates.
603 of these are Located in London postcodes.
332 are located in Midlands postcodes.
217 are located in North East postcodes (NB this includes Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire).
189 are located in North West postcodes
419 are located in South Central postcodes (NB this includes Hampshire, Berkshire and counties west of London).
365 are located in South East postcodes (NB this is the area south of London - Kent, Surrey and Sussex).
136 are located in the South West.
102 are located in Wales.
497 are located in Anglia. This includes north London counties, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. Majority are Essex and North London).
332 are located in Midlands postcodes.
217 are located in North East postcodes (NB this includes Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire).
189 are located in North West postcodes
419 are located in South Central postcodes (NB this includes Hampshire, Berkshire and counties west of London).
365 are located in South East postcodes (NB this is the area south of London - Kent, Surrey and Sussex).
136 are located in the South West.
102 are located in Wales.
497 are located in Anglia. This includes north London counties, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. Majority are Essex and North London).
If I was going to open a conveyancing office and wanted to recruit 20 experienced fee earners, I would almost certainly aim at an office in and around Greater London. Costs may be higher, but recruiting staff will be considerably easier than a lot of other areas of the UK.
The figures above are for candidates who have registered with us and have active update settings on the system. I should add that it doesn’t mean that they are all looking for work at any time or that they would be necessarily interested in new vacancies.
So which are the hardest areas to recruit for? I would say the North East, the South West, North West and East Anglia (Norfolk, Suffolk). These areas have a low number of potential candidates.
Towns we would expect to get good responses for: Leicester, Birmingham, Cardiff, Bristol, Chelmsford, Ilford, Romford, Dartford and E/SE London postcodes, Bromley, Croydon, Wolverhampton and Southampton. Leeds tends not to be too bad and Manchester is fairly average.
Jonathan Fagan is Managing Director of Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment and a non-practising Solicitor. Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment provides online Legal Recruitment for Solicitors, Legal Executives, Fee Earners, Support Staff, Managers and Paralegals. Visit our Website to search our Vacancy Database. Our Legal Careers Shop has eBooks on CV Writing for Lawyers, Legal Job Interview Guide, Interview Answers for Lawyers, NQ Career Guide, Guide to Finding Work Experience or a Training Contract and the Entrants Guide to the Legal Profession. 
