The City Legal Market – past, present & future – a talk by Robert Sutton, Senior Adviser, Macfarlanes – Marie Tay

Author Marie

The City Legal Market - where leading solicitors gather - is a place that calls for versatile capabilities and wit along with the ability to adapt to new challenges constantly. And it’s a place where the faint-hearted or egoistic need not apply. Set against a background of Eurozone instability and the arrival of a number of US law firms on the scene, today’s City Legal Market is a far more competitive one.

Is there still a place for the GDL/LLB graduate whose goal is that increasingly hard-to-obtain training contract?

The answer is still a resounding yes. For it is said that competition brings out the best in us. And most certainly, while the entry of the US firms fosters competition between City firms, this also means that there is now a wider range of opportunities available.

Good news then for those seeking employment at City firms. For all that’s left to do is to prove yourself. Except that you need to do this in a more prominent manner than before. As City lawyers now play larger roles in the driving or organising of transactions, you need to be equipped with additional skill sets along with the all-important legal knowledge such as administrative and communication skills, a ‘what if’ intellect and the ability to lead.