James O’Brien, a director of LPA Legal, told Recruiter that law firms didn’t want to be seen hiring staff in one area while making redundancies in another.  However, he predicts that after a quiet first quarter, things will pick up.

O’Brien says the pick-up in the second quarter will be driven by senior lawyers who are “unappreciated” in their current roles. He says some of these have had their ambition to  become partners frustrated by restrictions on access to equity partnerships often imposed by law firms’ head offices in the US.  O’Brien says their response - “I am going to go somewhere else to get my partnership” - will fuel the market.