By 6+ PQE, you can probably handle the advisory work.
You’ve dealt with grievances, disciplinaries, restructures, redundancies and more tribunal litigation than you care to remember.
The more interesting question becomes what you are actually building.
A client base?
A reputation?
A route to something more senior?
Or simply another year of being the dependable person everyone turns to when something difficult lands?
I’m keen to speak with experienced Employment Solicitors in Edinburgh who are starting to think a little more seriously about what the next five years should look like.
There is demand in the Scottish market for senior employment lawyers who can do more than simply run matters.
Firms want people who are comfortable with clients, commercially switched on, capable of supervising more junior lawyers and increasingly able to play a part in developing the practice around them.
That does not mean you need to arrive with a portable book of business the size of a small country.
But at 6+ PQE, the conversation should probably be moving beyond whether you can do the job.
It should be about how much influence you want to have over the job.
For some lawyers that means a clearer path towards Legal Director or Partner.
For others it means better quality client contact, more autonomy, or the chance to become genuinely known in the market rather than simply well regarded internally.
There are some strong options in Edinburgh for employment lawyers at that stage.
And if you have been in the same firm for a while, there is no harm in finding out how your experience compares.
You may decide you are exactly where you should be.
Equally, you may realise the next step is available sooner than you thought.
If you are an Employment Solicitor around 6+ PQE and would like a confidential conversation about the Edinburgh market, speak to Neil Campbell at QED Legal.
I’ll give you a straightforward view of where your experience could fit and whether there is anything genuinely worth exploring.
