Optimism is the word when reading headlines such as ‘Accelerated Job Recovery Reported for the Legal Sector’. Executive Network Legal commented “2009 was the worst year ever for law firms, slashing numbers of both qualified and none qualified staff, cutting pay and bonuses and the closure of many offices. However the legal sector is well on the way to recovery and has seen a steady surge of growth through 2010. We firmly believe the trend will continue.” Reed's index, which uses its online job board to track the number of new job opportunities and the salaries on offer, rose three points last month to 107, beating the previous best of 105 set in February 2010 (on a scale where anything above 100 represents growth). The strongest demand for new jobs came from employers in manufacturing and marketing, which Reed said demonstrated a "steady return to demand across the private sector". The release of official figures has shown that the UK's economy has grown more quickly than had been expected, with growth of 0.8 percent shown between July and September. This was double the growth that had been expected by industry experts. Executive Network Legal went on to say “Law firms must continue to be flexible in their approach and react quickly to the needs and changes of the economy.”
