Legal Career Guide

 

Potential Roles in Legal

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Most people working in law have undertaken at least an undergraduate degree, with practising lawyers completing many more years of additional training. The legal sector can be competitive, but careers can be lucrative, particularly if you work for a prestigious firm.

Legal secretaries provide admin and clerical support to legal practices. Legal secretary jobs involve transcribing dictations, filing legal records, taking meeting minutes and handling enquiries.

Paralegals are law professionals who support lawyers in gathering evidence and researching the details of a case. Paralegal jobs can be a stepping stone towards training to become a lawyer within your law firm.

Lawyers offer legal advice and defend clients legally in different situations. A lawyer is a generic term for someone who practices law, and Solicitors and barristers are both types of lawyers with equal seniority.

 

Salary and Career Progression

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Careers in the legal sector are generally well paid, with entry-level and non-lawyer jobs paying relatively well compared to other professions. There is vast potential for career progression into top-level positions, with multiple-six-figure salaries (and higher) available to lawyers in some areas of practice.

Legal secretaries earn on average £20,000 to £45,000 per year. There is scope for progression, and with further training, a legal secretary can become a paralegal or legal executive and could even choose to train to become a solicitor. Experienced legal secretaries can move into senior secretarial roles or become office managers or Personal Assistants.

Paralegals earn £20,000 annually, rising to £40,000 and more with experience. There are opportunities to progress within the paralegal field, but paralegals can also use their position to apply to train to become a solicitor, or in some cases, can use their skills and experience to gain solicitor qualification under the ‘equivalent means’ route.

Lawyer salaries and opportunities depend on the size and prestige of the law firm. In a small, regional high street firm, solicitors can expect to earn around £22,000 to £45,000. Solicitors who work in-house for a company or organisation can expect to make about £50,000 to £100,000, depending upon the size of their employer. City firms pay considerably more; it’s not unusual for newly qualified solicitors to start on a salary of £80,000 or more, with partners earning upwards of £300,000 (senior partners can reach £1 million or more).

Some areas of law attract higher salaries than others. For example, in most cases, commercial and corporate law tends to pay more than family or employment law.

 

Qualifications, Education and Experience

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Legal secretaries do not need a university education to succeed in their careers (although this may put them ahead of their peers in a competitive jobs market).

To become a legal secretary, you will need:

• 5 GCSEs at grades 9 – 4 (A* – C) or above

It may also be beneficial to have:

• An industry qualification from an organisation like The Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs
• Courses in legal word processing and audio transcription
• A Level 3 Diploma for Legal Secretaries from a college

Paralegals do not have to undertake any specific training, but in practice, employers may ask for at least one of the following:

• A law degree
• Postgraduate paralegal diploma
• A diploma, certificate or award from the National Association of Licensed Paralegals
• A certificate or diploma in legal secretary studies

Employers may also ask for relevant industry experience, for example, working as a legal secretary or knowledge of the specific area of law in which they practice.

Lawyers must undergo very specific, rigorous education and training to qualify. The training process includes:

• A qualifying undergraduate degree in Law called an LLB
• Passing the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE)
• Legal work experience through a 2-year training contract with a law firm
• Passing the character and suitability requirements set by the Solicitors Regulation Authority

Other things to note:

• If you have an undergraduate degree in another subject (not an LLB), you can take a law conversion course or preparation course before sitting the SQE.
• Paralegals, chartered legal executives and A’ Level graduates can take a Level 7 Solicitor Apprenticeship to become a solicitor, which takes six years to complete.
• Barristers must undergo extra training.
• A newer type of training called the CILEX Professional Qualification (CPQ) route enables people without a degree to train and practice in one focused area of law.

 

Skills

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Legal secretaries need a mix of hard and soft skills to liaise with a range of colleagues and clients and complete their tasks efficiently and to a high standard.

Necessary skills include:

• Attention to detail
• Industry-specific skills depending upon the area of law in which their employer practises
• Managing financial documents
• Good organisational skills
• Confident with all types of communication

Paralegals also need a range of skills:

• Excellent organisation
• Good written and verbal communication skills
• Self-starter and motivated
• Attention to detail
• Administrative skills, including typing and filing
• IT skills
• A high level of professionalism
• Research skills

Lawyers are highly skilled professionals and need a range of soft and hard skills to complete the necessary training and succeed in their careers. Key skills include:

• Motivated and ambitious
• Able to work well in a team
• Excellent written, verbal and non-verbal communication skills
• Attention to detail
• Diligence
• Honesty and integrity
• Able to stay calm under pressure
• Good at reading people
• Open-minded and can think ‘outside the box’
• Good at problem-solving
• Excellent research and writing skills

 

Working Hours

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Law firm employees work office hours from 9am to 5pm as a minimum – often, lawyers are expected to work for however long it takes to get the job done. High-pressure cases can be all-consuming, so employees must be dedicated and willing to stay after office hours. Smaller regional firms or in-house teams are more likely to work to standard hours.

Legal secretaries are typically expected to work standard office hours and are less likely to be expected to work additional hours (unless agreed with the employer).

 

Notable Locations

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You can find jobs in the legal sector almost anywhere. The top five law firms in the UK (known informally as the Magic Circle) are all located in London, along with several other well-respected firms. Other cities and towns in the UK also have successful law firms of varying sizes, and most small towns have regional high street solicitors serving the local population.

A career in law can open up opportunities to travel outside of the UK, with lawyers able to practice UK law in Offshore jurisdictions, including Jersey, Guernsey and the British Virgin Islands, and further afield. Many large UK law firms have offices worldwide, and internal transfer is often possible.

Large law firms are located in cities, including:

• London
• Manchester
• Birmingham
• Leeds
• Edinburgh
• Glasgow
• Cardiff

 

Notable Companies

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We have to start this list with the UK’s five most prestigious law firms. These firms consistently outperform their rivals and are collectively known as the Magic Circle:

• Allen & Overy
• Clifford Chance
• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
• Linklaters
• Slaughter and May

Other prestigious law firms include:

• DLA Piper – the biggest law firm in the UK, with seven offices
• Ashurst – an award-winning international law firm with 30 offices worldwide
• Latham & Watkins – a US firm with a large UK office that rivals UK-based firms

 

Next Steps

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