Are Construction Lawyers in Demand?

Construction law trends across the UK and salary guide.

Ask any construction law recruiter where the candidates are and you'll get the same answer: there aren't enough of them. Firms across the UK are expanding their construction and projects teams to keep pace with a record infrastructure and regeneration pipeline, but the pool of solicitors qualified to do the work, contentious and non-contentious, hasn't grown to match it. JMC estimates there are around 5,000 contentious construction solicitors and 4,000 non-contentious construction solicitors practising in the UK today: roughly 9,000 specialists, or 3.9% of the profession, covering a sector that's only getting busier.

The Numbers Behind the Shortage

The shortage isn't a perception problem, it's structural. The UK's infrastructure pipeline runs to £718bn across 734 projects over the next decade, spanning energy, transport, water and housing. Layer regeneration and new-build housing schemes on top, then add the wave of building safety remediation work triggered by the Building Safety Act 2022, and the amount of construction-related legal work in the market has grown far faster than the specialist bar available to handle it. The Building Safety Levy comes into force on 1 October 2026, and the Supreme Court is due to rule on Triathlon Homes and Adriatic Land 5, two cases that will decide how far Remediation Contribution Orders can reach into pre-2022 costs. Both will generate more work for construction lawyers, not less.

Solicitor figures are JMC estimates, drawn from JMC's UK Legal Market Report 2026/27. Pipeline figure per government infrastructure data reported by Daily Build, March 2026.

Why Firms Can't Fill These Roles

The shortage isn't just a headline count, it has a shape. Talk to recruiters working construction desks across the UK and the same pattern turns up again and again: firms need people at a specific level of experience, in a specific specialism, and there simply aren't enough of them.

A Squeeze in the Middle

The sharpest gap sits at 4 to 8 PQE, roughly the point where a solicitor stops being trained and starts running matters unsupervised. Our Regional Director Joe Bryant notes that Manchester, like the rest of the UK, is seeing the legacy of the pandemic: almost no one trained into transactional construction law during those years, so the cohort that would now be sitting at 4–6 PQE largely doesn't exist. Scotland reports the same problem from the demand side: firms need mid-to-senior solicitors to carry the workload, not junior support, and there simply aren't enough of them to go around. In Bristol, it's a function of the work itself: the region's large-scale projects are complex enough that firms need experienced hands running them, so the biggest instructions default to the smallest pool of senior lawyers available.

JMC's Bristol-based legal recruitment consultant, Tom Amer, puts it plainly:

“My advice to young solicitors looking to specialise in construction is to do it. You will always have work. Given how many large scale regeneration projects are going to be underway in the next couple of years there will be plenty of work.”

— Tom Amer, JMC Legal

Specialists Are Made Early

London's litigation market shows why that middle tier stays thin. Sophie Avery, London Talent Specialist, notes there's no shortage of commercial litigators in London, but very few move into contentious construction once they're several years into a general litigation career; the breadth of commercial litigation is hard to give up for a single sector. Where solicitors do specialise, it's almost always a decision made straight out of a training contract. Miss that early window and the switch rarely happens later, which narrows the number of people who'll eventually reach the mid-to-senior tier firms are short of today.

Contentious and Non-Contentious Move on Different Cycles

The balance between the two isn't fixed, and it doesn't move the same way in every region. Manchester's non-contentious hiring ran hot for a long stretch before cooling sharply around summer 2026, with contentious work picking up in its place. Bristol's market is roughly split, though contentious currently has the edge, driven by a wave of cladding-related litigation as the Building Safety Act's remediation regime plays out. Tilly Scott, Scottish Recruitment Consultant explains that Scotland's contentious market has a reasonable enough supply of solicitors, but non-contentious is sparse with many solicitors becoming burnt out with the sheer amount of work to be done. None of this evens out nationally: a solicitor with only one side of the practice is exposed to whichever cycle their region and specialism happen to be in.

A Catch-22: Chasing Seniority Instead of Building It

That squeeze creates its own trap. Firms short on talent default to hiring at senior levels, because it's senior lawyers who can be trusted to run the large, high-value accounts they're chasing. Those firms also tend to recruit from others of a similar reputation and tier, so the same relatively small pool of experienced lawyers moves between a similar set of firms rather than the overall pool growing. That's visible in London on any given day: Associates, Senior Associates, Legal Directors and Partners are all being sought across the City and West End, at Top 70 and Top 100 firms alike, but it's the same circle of Legal 500, Chambers and Spears-ranked names doing the hiring and the moving. Nothing replaces the training-contract-level intake in the meantime, and the shortage just keeps pushing further up the PQE scale as today's mid-level solicitors get pulled upward with no one coming through behind them. Breaking that cycle means firms investing in junior talent now, not just competing harder for the senior lawyers already in the market.

Where the Demand Is Actually Coming From

Every region points to the same underlying cause: firms are expanding. Construction, real estate and projects teams are growing because there's a share of that £718bn pipeline, and the regeneration and remediation work sitting behind it, worth winning. That work is high in value: major regeneration schemes, complex procurement, large-scale cladding remediation and disputes running through the Technology and Construction Court. Firms aren't hiring to fill a gap in headcount, they're hiring to run instructions where the client, the fee, and the reputational stakes are all significant. That changes who they'll take: a firm bidding for a nine-figure regeneration scheme, or defending a Building Liability Order claim, will only put its name behind a candidate with the right experience, not the first solicitor available.

Contentious or Non-Contentious? Choosing Your Path

Non-contentious construction work covers procurement, drafting and negotiating building contracts (JCT, NEC and bespoke amendments), and advising developers, contractors and funders through the life of a project. Contentious construction covers disputes, adjudication, arbitration, Technology and Construction Court litigation and, increasingly, cladding and remediation claims. Firms need both, and the two specialisms sit closer together day-to-day than they might look on paper.

A few things are worth weighing up if you're deciding whether, and when, to specialise:

• Timing matters more than firms let on. Very few commercial litigators in London switch into contentious construction once they're several years into a general litigation career. If it's a genuine interest, a training contract seat is usually the easiest point to make the move.
• Regional demand isn't stable. Manchester's non-contentious market cooled sharply after a strong run, while contentious work picked up. A grounding in both sides of construction work is a hedge against a single-cycle dip in either.
• Workload needs managing. Scotland's demand is a good problem to have from a career-security standpoint, but it's worth going in with open eyes about intensity, and choosing a firm that resources its construction team properly. It's also worth noting the shortage there is concentrated in non-contentious work and at mid-to-senior level, so building toward that experience, rather than staying junior, is where the real opportunity sits.
• The best experience sits with the biggest projects. Bristol shows how concentrated large-scale project experience is. If long-term marketability matters, it's worth seeking out a firm that actually does that scale of work, rather than a smaller outfit doing smaller schemes.
  
  

Construction Solicitor Salary Benchmarks 2026

Salaries track PQE and location closely, and the gap between regional and London pay widens the more senior the role. Based on live construction vacancies JMC is currently working, alongside wider market data:

Compiled from live construction solicitor vacancies across Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast and Southampton ("Regional") and the City of London and West End ("London".)

FAQs

Are construction lawyers in demand in the UK?

Yes. JMC estimates around 9,000 solicitors specialise in construction law across the UK, contentious and non-contentious combined, against a decade-long infrastructure pipeline worth £718bn and a growing volume of building safety litigation. Firms in London, Scotland, Manchester and Bristol are all reporting difficulty finding enough specialists, and that looks set to continue for some time.

How do you become a construction lawyer in the UK?

There's no separate qualification route: you qualify as a solicitor in the usual way, then build construction experience through your training contract seats or early roles. Recruiters report that the earlier you specialise, ideally straight out of a training contract, the more likely you are to build toward the mid-to-senior level experience firms are short of; switching into contentious construction several years into general commercial litigation is far less common.

What's the difference between contentious and non-contentious construction law?

Non-contentious construction lawyers draft and negotiate building contracts and advise on projects from procurement through to completion. Contentious construction lawyers handle disputes: adjudication, arbitration, Technology and Construction Court litigation, and remediation claims connected to building safety.

Which UK region has the most demand for construction solicitors?

Demand is high everywhere, but it shows up differently by region. Scotland has more demand than the market can supply, particularly for mid-to-senior level, non-contentious solicitors; Bristol's large-scale project work is concentrated in a small number of firms; and Manchester and London both report a shortage of solicitors with a genuine construction specialism, with London firms currently hiring at every level from newly qualified through to partner.

How much does a construction lawyer earn?

It depends heavily on PQE and location. Outside London, salaries range from around £50,000 at NQ up to £105,000 at Legal Director and partner level. In London, that range runs from roughly £60,000 at NQ up to £120,000-plus for Legal Director and partner roles, with Managing Associate positions at Top 25 international and City firms reaching £150,000.

What jobs pay £100k a year in construction law?

£100k-plus is realistic from senior associate level upward in London, and from Legal Director level in most regional markets. Managing Associate roles at Top 25 international and City firms can reach £150,000, and Legal Director and partner-level hires in the City of London typically sit at £100,000–£120,000. Contentious construction disputes teams and combined contentious/non-contentious practices at Legal 500, Chambers and Spears-ranked firms tend to pay toward the top of the market at every level.

What can you do with a construction law degree?

There isn't a dedicated construction law degree in the UK; solicitors complete a qualifying law degree or conversion, then specialise in construction through training seats and early roles. From there, the paths split into non-contentious work (procurement, drafting and negotiating building contracts, advising developers and contractors through a project's life) and contentious work (adjudication, arbitration, litigation and, increasingly, building safety and cladding remediation claims), plus in-house roles with developers, contractors and infrastructure clients.

Which field of law is most in demand in the UK right now?

Demand moves with the economic cycle and government policy, so there's no single fixed answer. Based on JMC's own data, though, construction law is one of the most in-demand specialisms at the moment: around 9,000 solicitors are covering a £718bn decade-long infrastructure pipeline plus a growing wave of building safety litigation, and firms in every region JMC covers report struggling to fill construction vacancies.

Related Reading

• What Are the Biggest Law Firms in Manchester?
• Scotland Market Report 2026
• Leaving a Magic Circle Firm? 

JMC works with law firms and construction solicitors across London, Scotland, Manchester, Bristol and beyond. If you're weighing up a move into construction law, or a firm struggling to fill a construction seat, get in touch with JMC's construction team.