Market Overview
The market for lawyers wishing to work in the banking and finance sector in the UK is both large and diverse. Legal departments in the largest banks can have well over 100 lawyers, typically divided into teams focused on particular products, areas of law and/or jurisdictions. Lawyers can be located within the legal department, on the trading floor and/or embedded within a particular business.
At the other end of the spectrum, London is home to the branch offices of a plethora of smaller international banks which might have legal teams of five lawyers or fewer, covering a very general range of work. Lawyers working in banks can have a huge variety of skill-sets. In the largest investment banks, there will be significant teams of specialist lawyers covering areas such as derivatives, structured products, capital markets, structured finance, corporate/M&A, acquisition/leveraged finance, and general banking. They will also have lawyers covering non-banking related areas including commercial/IT/IP, litigation and employment.
The fund management sector, both traditional and alternative/hedge funds, continues to develop and demand an ever-increasing amount of legal support. The largest teams can be of 15-20 lawyers, whilst many smaller houses and hedge funds will have sole lawyers covering everything. Lawyers from a variety of backgrounds can be found working in this sector, from pure funds to derivatives to general commercial. Other industries such as insurance again have a demand for a broad range of skill-sets and certainly don’t limit themselves to only employing insurance lawyers.
Salary / Remuneration
Broadly speaking, remuneration in the banking and finance sector tends to be towards the top end of the scale on the in-house market. In particular, the investment banks often provide lawyers with very attractive packages, which in the most profitable, business-facing roles can include significant bonuses.
As with all in-house positions, it is important to consider the package as a whole and not to place too great an emphasis on base salary alone. Obviously it’s an important element, but other benefits and bonuses can contribute hugely to the overall value of the package. Lawyers moving out of a law firm often have difficulty in adjusting to this mind-set, as remuneration in the law firms has traditionally been dominated by base salary.
For further information on the UK in-house legal market and / or job opportunities in this sector contact:
Nick RootT: 020 7415 2828
E: nickroot@taylorroot.com