Cost of living crisis: UK lawyers braced for talent war and surge in fraud cases
Lawyers working in top British companies are anticipating a hike in fraud, disputes, and debt recovery cases over 2023 as the UK’s economy takes a turn for the worse, a new survey shows.
In-house lawyers expect they will be forced to deal with the fallout of the UK’s cost-of-living crisis as the economic downturn sets in, the report from Kingsley Napley says.
The survey of 50 in-house lawyers showed 75 per cent expect an uptick in disputes work over the next 12-24 months, while 68 per cent anticipate an increase in debt recovery work.
At the same time, almost half (49 per cent) of in-house lawyers surveyed said they are anticipating an increase in fraud cases, while 46 per cent said they are expecting to deal with more employment disputes.
“The consensus amongst in-house lawyers is that this will lead to an increase in levels of fraud, legal disputes and battles to recover debts, regardless of the sector in which a company operates,” Kingsley Napley’s head of criminal litigation and investigations, Louise Hodges, said.
However, in-house lawyers also expect the current crisis will have a detrimental impact on their own operations, as rising prices stretch legal department budgets and drive employee churn.
The survey showed 60 per cent of in-house lawyers expect inflationary pressures will strain their department’s budget.
A further 81 per cent of in-house lawyers surveyed said they expect the cost-of-living crisis will create more “people challenges” as staff seek out higher salaries in their efforts to deal with rising costs.
In seeking to deal with potential retention issues, 36 per cent of those polled said they are considering handing out above inflation pay rises. By contrast, just 29 per cent of those surveyed said they plan to cut workforce costs.
A further 53 per cent said they are considering upskilling their current employees in a bid to deal with any recruitment crises, while 39 per cent said they are looking at investing in new tech.
The survey comes as legal sector salaries have surged over the past two years amid a battle for talent amongst the City’s top firms.
The UK talent war has seen salaries for newly-qualified in the most prestigious London law firms soar to heights of well over £100,000 a year.