Recruitment of lawyers from Australia and New Zealand has surged at UK law firms following the government’s relaxation of immigration rules for highly skilled workers.

Associate solicitors from both countries are flocking to London to plug gaps in mid-tier City firms’ corporate practices, recruiters Badenoch & Clark said this week.

Colin Loth, manager of the legal teams at Badenoch & Clark, said that associates with three to six years’ post-qualification experience were in particular demand, to fill vacancies in restructuring, insolvency and financial litigation. He said there was a shortage of UK-qualified lawyers in these areas.

Highly skilled workers earning £150,000 or more no longer need to hold a master’s degree in order to obtain a ‘Tier 1’ visa, after the government scrapped the requirement from 6 April.

‘They aren’t taking jobs from UK lawyers,’ said Loth. ‘They’re not coming over with mergers and acquisitions experience, because there aren’t any gaps there.’ He said that as the market picks up, more antipodean associates will plug gaps in magic circle firms.

Loth said that associates from Australia and New Zealand without master’s degrees have always had an equivalent educational standing to UK associates who have completed the Legal Practice Course.

The Migration Advisory Committee recommended the rule change to the government in December following lobbying by City firms Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, CMS Cameron McKenna, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Kingsley Napley, Linklaters, Norton Rose, Slaughter and May, Speechly Bircham, and Taylor Wessing.