Opportunities in Manchester
In Manchester, variety really is the spice of life. A wide range of options are available for ambitious lawyers looking to make their mark.
According to a Mori poll following the Commonwealth Games in 2002, more people consider Manchester to be England’s ‘second city’ than Birmingham, despite the latter’s much larger population. The city’s legal community clearly has ambitions to be number one outside the capital too. Since Pinsent Masons’ arrival in 2002, the city has the full complement of national firms, all of which anticipate significant growth in the region. Manchester also has a wide range of other practices, notably Halliwells and Cobbetts, which have big plans, while some of the middle tier see an opportunity to move up the legal food chain as they watch the nationals move on to bigger and better things.
They are being joined in the corporate and commercial arena by a number of formerly insurance-dominated practices, both homegrown and from along the road in Liverpool who see the same opportunity.
They have managed to fuel this expansion through the recruitment of assistant and associate lawyers from the city’s biggest firms. Some have been the victims of the slack in the corporate market of recent years, but others have been lured away by the better partnership prospects on offer at some of the smaller practices and the fact that the salary gap has narrowed significantly. Signs that the larger firms are concerned about losing bright young things in the partnership pipeline pile-up has led Addleshaw Goddard to introduce a new job title of ‘Legal Director’ in order to provide an alternative legal career structure, following a similar initiative by Eversheds a few years ago.
The nationals deny that they are taking their eye off the ball locally, stating that the target for them is to persuade more of the local plc base to keep their work local rather than sending it to London, something at which Manchester has had traditionally less success at than Leeds. Meanwhile, the consolidation of venture capitalists and private equity houses into Manchester from Leeds creates another opportunity for the city’s leading lawyers. So, in Manchester it seems, there really is something for everyone.
So what does this mean for those wanting to move in, or to, Manchester?
Manchester may be a big pond, but it is home to a growing number of fish making it an intensely competitive place to be. Anyone planning to move north for the quiet life is likely to be disappointed – the working hours are not far short of London, even if the commute home afterwards is shorter.
At all levels, the firms emphasise the need to go out and win the work rather than sit back and wait for it to roll across the desk, so the ability and enthusiasm to hit the cocktail circuit will be appreciated. It’s probably best to brush up on your small talk too. In the middle-tier, the emphasis of many firms is on “relationship lawyering” – developing long-term partnerships with key clients rather than just lurching from transaction to transaction – so the ability to get on with and understand, as well as advise, your clients is essential.
“We look for lawyers with personality,” says one Manchester managing partner. “Clients expect that you can do the legal bit but they also want to be able to get on with you.”
For all these reasons, lawyers with City experience, while still valued by the national firms in particular, will have to convince prospective employers that they are more than just back office boys and girls, that they are not over-specialised for work in the regions and be reasonable in their salary demands. In some cases, firms will also need to be convinced that relocaters without obvious connections to the region are really committed to staying in the area.
Likewise, once in, having City experience is not necessarily a fast track to partnership. “There’s no room in partnerships for either ‘engine room’ lawyers or pure networkers any more,” says one local recruiter. “You need to combine technical skills, management skills and marketing skills to be an equity partner now.”
For the usual reasons – i.e. the right balance of experience and relative economy – candidates in the 2-5 PQE band are ever popular with firms in Manchester and, despite the slackness in the corporate market in recent years, have remained in demand throughout due to their cost-effectiveness in running the smaller deals which have continued to proliferate while the big-ticket transactions have dried up.
There are emerging signs the corporate market has turned the corner, although the market is generally described as being at the “green shoots” stage rather than on the verge of a full-scale boom. Even the nationals, many of which have been discreetly shedding staff in recent years, are beginning to recruit again in corporate, albeit more in anticipation of an upturn in bigger deals than a tsunami of instructions crashing through their doors.
There remains a shortage of commercial property and, to a lesser extent, construction lawyers as the redevelopment of the city continues apace. And local recruiters also report an upturn in requests for ‘compliance’ type roles, in both financial services regulation and health and safety. Private client lawyers are also much sought after, especially those with experience of working in London.
Whether any recovery in the private practice market will stem the flow of assistants looking to move in-house remains to be seen. Manchester and the North-West have enjoyed considerable success in attracting company headquarters to the region, which is reflected in the number of in-house legal departments based in the region, such as the Co-operative Bank, Astra Zeneca, MyTravel, BNFL, Makro and United Utilities.
In-house salaries are similar to if not more than, when additional benefits are taken into account, those in private practice up to around 4 years PQE. Unsurprisingly then, the number of candidates looking to move in-house tends to exceed the number of opportunities available. For those looking to make the first move, it certainly helps if you have 2-4 years PQE and a general commercial background from one of the national firms as well as the ability to work, and get on with, a wide range of people.
Wherever you work in Manchester, it seems, it pays to talk.
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