The South West is home to more legal firms than any city outside of London, offering a broad range of services to businesses and individuals in its towns, cities and rural surrounds. Speaking to some of the region’s key legal players, Insider found that attracting and maintaining talent was high on the agenda of these firms in a highly competitive skills market.
Thrings managing partner, Simon Holdsworth, told Insider: “The war on talent is as strong as it ever has been. You only have to look at the salary hikes we’ve seen as a profession across the board, but particularly at junior levels. There’s no doubt that firms are really competing over what appears to be a shortage of good junior lawyers.
“The competition around talent is leading to competition around pay, but we’re also seeing the firms that can’t always compete on pay trying to be a little more innovative about how they promote the employer brand. That’s forcing a lot of firms to think really carefully about benefits and work-life balance.”
To read Simon’s comments in full, you can view Insider’s feature article here.