Trainee solicitor and paralegal careers
Whether you aspire to become qualified or to continue as a paralegal, Clarke Willmott is an excellent place to begin your career in law. When you come on board, you will have a lot of contact with our senior lawyers and we will be invested in your development and wellbeing from day one.
Your path to qualification with us is slightly different to other firms. First you will join us as a paralegal so you can be sure we are the right firm for you. Once you’ve learnt the ropes, you will have the opportunity to apply to be a supported trainee.View our vacancies
Being a paralegal at Clarke Willmott
Every day will bring new opportunities for learning and you will make a valued contribution to your team’s success. Your work will vary and, depending on which practice area you join, might include:
- Assisting with drafting and negotiating documents
- Carrying out legal research
- Preparing client engagement letters and fee agreements
- Responding to queries from clients
- Opening, archiving, filing and closing client files
- Updating databases and spreadsheets
From paralegal to solicitor
After you have worked with us as a paralegal for at least 12 months, you can apply for a supported trainee position.
We offer our trainees the Solicitors Qualifying Examinations (SQE) route to qualification, which was introduced by the SRA in September 2021. We welcome its aims to remove some of the existing barriers to qualification, improve diversity in the profession, and ensure consistency and standardisation of qualification.
We have a limited number of supported positions on offer each year and there is no guarantee that all paralegals will ultimately become supported trainees. Offers are based on your performance, skills and supporting business case for us to expand our qualified staff provision within the practice area.
You can pursue SQE without being offered a supported position by us. In these instances, we will work with you to identify what help we can offer.
Legal executive route to qualification
It may be that you would like to take the legal executive route and study for a CILEX qualification. We have several qualified legal executives and will be able to guide and support you in achieving your goals.
Stories from our trainees and paralegals
Interested in knowing more?
If you have any questions about joining Clarke Willmott as a paralegal, please get in touch. For speculative applications, please send your CV accompanied by a covering email to careers@clarkewillmott.com.