It is understandable that the Coronavirus pandemic has affected all major industries but no one expected that the legal sector would be hit the hardest next to travel and tourism. In this article, we will examine why.
Legal recruitment, after a nice improvement in 2018, continued to rise in 2019 and early 2020. And then came the Coronavirus crisis… and job openings in the legal sector decreased by 45% in the second quarter of 2020 compared to 2019. Since September 2020 there has been a certain rebound in employment and not internships – limited nevertheless, we are at -30% of job openings in the first two months of 2021 (compared to the pre-crisis period in 2020).
The balance sheet is therefore very negative over 12 months. When it comes to recruitment, we now need to be agile and adaptable, as these years 2020-2021 are complicated!
Market trends 2020-2021.
Naturally, the number of job openings published fell between mid-March and the end of May, containment, and uncertainty. The remaining job opportunities were often made by anticipating recruitment firms, companies that already knew how to telecommute, or others that may have tried to attract some profiles that were not usually easy to find.
Since then, there has been a gradual recovery, leading even to a good July and a certain recovery since September, which has not really eased recruitment: candidates are often more reluctant than before to change positions, companies. We have to go and get them, seduce them, reassure them. Not easy for the recruiters themselves in doubt (even if the subject “Legal” has not faltered this year in companies), but understandable for the candidates. All of this freezes the movements a little.
On the downside, “seeing each other” so that a first feeling can be implemented, both on the candidate’s side and on the recruiter’s side, was more complicated (and will remain so for a few more months). Many companies have generalized telework; this will likely change the “Soft Skills” expectations of candidates (other than the Law).
In short, you see, recruitment is evolving willingly or by force! A finding that pushes recruiters to change their habits and job cards, and candidates to review their CVs and assets to highlight.
The collapse in the volume of offers is glaring in the spring of 2020, and if the recovery is seen since then, there are still not at all 2019 or early 2020 levels. In the first two months of 2021, the barometer is -30% of job postings compared to the same period in 2020.
Clearly, the ones who have suffered the most are the trainees as there have been very few internships offered for the summer of 2020, and the volume of internship offers at the beginning of 2021 is less than half that of 2019.
This is a real problem for students and young graduates, in terms of experience, employability in the medium term… morale too. This is also one for recruiters since their future employees in the coming years will have less experience. These recruiters may also run out of staff already trained at the time of the takeover.
That’s why the Justice Village has launched a call for the mobilization of law firms and legal directorates to invite them to relaunch their internship offers without delay, as it is vital for the employability and experience that the internship period is not canceled again in 2021!
The volume of advertisements in legal recruitment (lawyers and lawyers, excluding internships) represented in 2019 in France about 25,300 different advertisements (for 6000 companies) all media combined (web, agencies, and press) and excluding recruitment and temporary firms (51500 ads with firms) [1].
The Village of Justice, the first open site of the legal professional community for 24 years, closely follows the trends in legal recruitment, thanks in particular to the leading employment section, thus quite representative of “what is happening”
After the “explosion” of applications caused by the RGPD in 2018, the number of job offers in “personal data” has stabilized (it had more than doubled for lawyers for example in 2018 and continues in 2019), but other areas are experiencing a nice increase, such as insurance law for example. In short, it is a year of stabilization for the major areas of law.
Should incoming lawyers and applicants be worried?
It is understandable that every sector will be affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. Lawyers work for other businesses (travel, hospitality, and tourism for example) and when these businesses shut down, their firm loses clients as well.
It is expected that when other sectors start to recover, the legal sector will start hiring again. Everything is interconnected and upcoming lawyers and applicants should not be worried about not finding a new job.
What waiting applicants can do
If you can’t find a job and are waiting for job openings, there are other things you can do to make money while waiting. There are jobs for lawyers and legal scholars online like writing and even coaching. There are also legal transcriptions. A simple Google search for “jobs for lawyers online” will give you a decent amount of choices.
Other lawyers and legal scholars also accept online teaching jobs. Since most parts of the world are still homeschooling, a lot of parents are looking for online tutors for their kids, and lawyers and legal scholars are among the better choices.
“I lost my job when our hotel chain shuts down. I worked as a corporate lawyer in the hotel and accommodation sector which is badly hit. After 12 years of being a lawyer giving legal advice, I never imagined that I would be tutoring 10-year-old kids. I didn’t even have enough time for my own kids for more than 10 years and now I’m teaching other people’s kids. Ironic but the pay is good and can help my family survive this ongoing pandemic”, Dan Shield, a lawyer from Detroit who has been tutoring online since August 2020, said.
