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‘How’s everyone feeling about the NQ job market?’

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By Legal Cheek on

26

Qualifying in September


In our latest Career Conundrum, a soon-to-be associate is eager to hear how others are finding the NQ recruitment market.

“Hello Legal Cheek. I have a career conundrum that I would like you to put publish to your readers. I am one of many trainees due to qualifying this September and I am a bit concerned about how the market is looking. I am fortunate enough to have an offer from my current firm but not in my first choice department, and from looking around externally it seems slim pickings. How is everyone else finding it?”

If you have a career conundrum, email us at tips@legalcheek.com.

26 Comments

Anon

Not good. Qualifying in March next year and I am starting to feel fearful by the rumoured drop in retention in the cohort above me, and the lack of NQ roles out there.

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(14)(2)

Banner

I’ve already accepted a role with my training firm but I hear it’s a struggle depending on which areas you’re looking to qualify. If it was me I’d stick with your second choice department and look to move next year

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(9)(1)

Banner

That’s assuming things improve!

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(9)(0)

.

The retention scores seem fairly solid so far this year with a few exceptions of course.

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(1)(9)

BloeJoggs

Ive heard the market is very bad,
in my limited understanding

September ’24 qualifiers had an awful market,
March ’25 qualifiers had it slightly better
But September ’25 qualifiers have it even worse than September ’24.
Some of the big hitters (rumours) have had some of the lowest retention rates in years.

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(11)(3)

Mr B Fawlty, Esq.

SC-trained qualifying in September here. I got a job externally (US firm) in my preferred specialism (and got multiple offers from different firms in that area to choose from), but the market generally is tough right now.

Seems like most of the opportunities are in leveraged and asset backed finance, some in funds too, some tax, but pretty barren outside of that. All with the types of firms you’d expect. The disputes market is absolutely turbo-f*cked – a couple of months ago, the entire NQ market was competing for about 5 roles. Anecdotally, I have seen people over the last few intakes at my firm who wanted to go into corporate also struggle and end up having to take pretty significant pay cuts to get anything (despite coming from a well-regarded corporate practice), but I don’t know how much that market might have picked up now deal flow has improved a bit.

If you’re only now looking externally for a September start, in all honesty I think you’re probably going to struggle.

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(18)(4)

Interested

How comes disputes market is turbo-fucked?

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(9)(0)

University of East London LLB graduate

Because the disputes market likes to fuck turbo?

I dunno blud

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(2)(4)

Anon

Absolute horror show. My firm’s retention rate has dropped 30% on last year, and I couldn’t stay on as none of teams where I had completed a seat during my TC had a vacancy. Taken a job externally but with a significant pay cut

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(9)(0)

NQinManchester

I qualified in June of this year with around a dozen others. Those who spoke to the teams in which they wanted to qualify 12-18 months ago all landed jobs in those teams. Those who didn’t make themselves known and expected it handed to them didn’t have roles ‘made’ for them and have left. I don’t know why more trainees don’t think of playing the long game when they start their TC.

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(8)(9)

Golden retriever

MC Sept 25 – it’s been awful. I ended up not being retained (even though I did well in all seats). I have been interviewing at other firms but they seem to be moving very slowly. I’ve been making preparations to go back to my parents in September in case I cannot find a job. Poor planning by the these firms tbh.

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(11)(2)

Anon

The market is very slow. It’s not completely barren but there are very few available roles. When a role does come up it is extremely competitive.

I am having to broaden my horizons and consider alternatives (including applying for regional forms and considering a role in my team of second choice).

I really feel for everyone qualifying at this time. Hopefully the market will improve soon.

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(6)(0)

Anon

Very tough. Big demand from US firms in Leveraged and Real Estate Finance and in Funds. UK firms well catered for with their own qualifying trainees. If you want an advisory role the options available are limited so you need some good fortune with vacancies coming available. In any case, it helps to start looking around as early as possible if you can’t stay / don’t want to stay at your training firm. This worked for me as I engaged recruiters from about March time and found a new role by May. I would advise engaging a good number of recruiters. Recruiters will tell you differing things based on their knowledge / specialism / own interests so speaking to a few helps you to build up an accurate picture of the market.

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(5)(0)

Klaxon

Pick your chinny carefully though.

Most of them are shiny-suit goons fresh out of a local poly with limited intellect who will talk a great game but more often than not deliver little.

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(13)(1)

Anon

You’re not wrong – you definitely have to take what they say with a pinch of salt. They’re a necessary evil though.

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(0)(0)

Curious

These comments are quite surprising in the context of the strong recent financial results being posted by many law firms, with revenue and PEP up strongly in some cases. Why is the NQ market so bad at the moment? Is it AI?

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(2)(2)

Olgoi Khorkhoi

It’s greed, plain and simple.

The partnerships at these firms are desperate to extract as much PEP as possible, at the expense of the fee earners and other employees.

‘Twas ever thus.

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(4)(1)

Sep 24 Qualifier - Silver Circle

Sep 24 qualifier – no roles in the team I wanted so wasn’t retained, have struggled to find a contentious NQ role so have had to move in-house. Carried on speaking to recruiters to move back into private practice and having no luck, lots of 2-4 PQE roles but not NQ. It is an awful market.

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(7)(0)

Anon

Truly truly awful and recruiters don’t seem to be honest.

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(2)(0)

Chinny klaxon

Yeah no shiz son, recruiters are two bit spivs who only talk up their “book of business”, often incompetently.

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(5)(0)

Sad fourth seat trainee

No role at my firm, no role elsewhere. Firms interviewing for NQ level expect knowledge of 2PQE. Applying to in house roles, other cities and to 2nd, 3rd and 4th choice areas. Still nothing. Completely barren. Only roles are property/real estate and funds.

Is it better to be unemployed and wait for a role, or take a step back to a paralegal role?

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(4)(0)

Anon

Take a role as a paralegal in your chosen practice area (or close to it) and keep applying for NQ roles. Better to explain that circumstances beyond your control meant you couldn’t find an NQ role but that you were so keen to stay within a particular practice area and keep up with the goings on, gain experience etc than to say you didn’t work at all. For me, it’s a pride thing and I’ve struggled to get my ahead around that being the best option. How have we all worked for so long and now we’re being forced to take pay cuts, work as paralegals etc etc.

Best of luck to you, I really hope you find something.

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(1)(1)

3 PQE Lawyer

I would not recommend taking a role as a paralegal as this would be a step back. If anything it’s better to take any NQ role at a well regarded law firm (or in-house practice) and then make a lateral move into a practice area or firm you’re actually interested in. It won’t be easy and you’ll have lots of recruiters and lawyers tell you you can’t do it but you can because I am evidence of that as I switched at 1 PQE. Just make sure you are keeping up to date with legal updates in your preferred practice area and when it comes to interviewing have a good explanation as to why you want to switch.

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(4)(0)

Truth klaxon

Anything to keep earning bread my G. Nothing shameful about a paralegal role for that matter at all – you keep yourself in the game, keep learning relevant skills and keep working in a legal environment.

The only issue I find with this is that for whatever reason (unclear to me tbh) there’s some strange inertia/lack of flexibility in the legal profession where they’d rather hire some goon freshly out of their LLB or LPC to do a paralegal gig rather than a new NQ who just happened to fall on hard market times and circumstances entirely out of their control.

I hope people here reading this can correct me, but I haven’t encountered many instances when one can “ladder down” to a role that’s below where they currently sit in the legal pyramid. Like, there’s definitely qualified lawyers out there who got the boot/laid off/made redundant and who’d totally take a paralegal gig even with a massive pay cut, so long as they can keep earning an income and firms will just not care about them one bit.

Dunno, maybe I’m wrong here.

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(1)(0)

Desperate Trainee

Not many jobs around. The HR MD at my firm (Elite US) has indicated that only 40-50% of us will be retained due to reduced business need.

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(6)(0)

Where there’s muck, there’s brass

Praying for ya son, keep grinding.

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(2)(0)

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