Tim Kidd, Chief Executive, Institute of Legal Finance & Management (ILFM)
The Institute of Legal Finance & Management (ILFM) have partnered with Balance Recruitment to run its annual Legal Finance Salary Survey.
Every year the ILFM and Balance Recruitment work together to collate details of law firm legal finance professionals in legal finance roles, and we are thankful to everyone who takes part, offering a prize draw with either a £50 Amazon voucher or £50 donation to a charity of that person’s choosing.
Questions range from location, size of law firm, where the head office of that law firm is located, and the role that person has within legal finance (there is a drop-down key with a plethora of roles to choose from including Finance Directors, Managing Accountants, Senior Legal Cashiers, eBilling Assistants, Billing Analysts and Credit Controllers to name but few).
The survey drills into salaries, asking about any increases and percentages, bonuses from the employer as well as any other current salary level and job titles for other individuals in the finance team, bearing in mind that all of this is confidential and anonymous.
At the ILFM there is a theme that threads throughout all our 2023 events, which is training, staff motivation and wellbeing, so it’s no surprise that part of the survey touches on recruitment questions including length of service, job search research, and more interestingly, which factors would be the most important if you were to look for another place to work.
These are the five reasons people tend to move, and by drilling down into what candidates are looking for currently in their working lives, it helps law firm owners understand that needs to be done to entice talent!
- Salary and benefits package
- Career growth potential
- Flexible working arrangements
- People and culture
- Employer size & status
It’s probably not a huge revelation to hear that one of the questions within the survey is on the topic of remote working. Covid19 dramatically changed our ways of life and working, but with time and reflection, it’s helpful to understand how in the past year employers have gauged their staff’s motivation and engagement.
As a reminder, the survey is anonymous and confidential – you don’t need to include any contact details nor identifiable information.
If you work in legal finance or law firm management, please do take a few minutes to fill out this brief survey, it really helps the industry as a whole.
CLICK HERE FOR LEGAL FINANCE SALARY SURVEY 2023
Last year’s survey findings are here:
Salary increases by firm size (previous year in brackets as a comparison):
- Large firm = 82% (48%)
- Medium firm = 80% (42%)
- Small firm = 68% (24%)
- Financial bonuses by firm size:
- Large firm = 76% (62%)
- Medium firm = 65% (52%)
- Small firm = 50% (38%)
Percentage of respondents who remained with the same employer within last 12 months:
- Large firm = 88% (87%)
- Medium firm = 94% (87%)
- Small firm = 89% (96%)
- Percentage of respondents who hope to remain with the same employer over the next 12 months:
- Large firm = 50% (57%)
- Medium firm = 60% (64%)
- Small firm = 65% (67%)
If you’d like to read the results from the whole survey for 2022 please click HERE.
In 2022 we have seen record rates of growth in both starting salaries and hiring demand across the UK, and this was certainly experienced within the legal accounts community.
Fierce competition to attract and retain staff created a competitive landscape for those seeking a career change, and the majority of law firms experiencing revenue growth, pay reviews and financial bonuses were widely prevalent.
The results from our collaborative survey will be out in early summer 2023, when they will be published on our respective websites and in the ILFM Legal Abacus Publication.
Chief Executive of the Institute of Legal Finance & Management (ILFM)
