Weekly Newsletter #24

Career opportunities spotted this week

📍 Work experience, insight days, grants & placement opportunities

🏆 BIUCAC (Virtual)
Calling all non-Russell Group uni students: BIUCAC’s commercial awareness competition puts you in front of a number of law firms, with prizes including vacation scheme places and golden tickets to assessment centres. Sign-ups close on 26th October.

🚗 BMW (Farnborough)
BMW UK is hiring a Legal Placement Year student to support its Senior Legal Counsel on high-value litigation, disclosure, legal research and NDA reviews across BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. It’s an exciting alternative to the typical law firm route. The deadline is today, so get your application in quickly if you’re interested!

🏨 Hilton (Watford)
Hilton’s 12-month Legal Placement offers in-house experience across contract drafting and negotiation, real estate leases and dispute resolution, with some compliance work too. The placement starts on 5th July 2027. Deadline for applications: 1st November.

🌾 Ringrose Law (Lincoln)
With offices across Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire, Ringrose Law offers up to three places on its two-week Summer Vacation Scheme, running from 21st June to 2nd July 2027. You’ll shadow colleagues across several departments and may observe client meetings and court hearings. Deadline: 28th February 2027.

🧭 Trowers & Hamlins x Uptree (Birmingham, Exeter & more)
Year 13 students set on law can get ready for Trowers & Hamlins’ solicitor apprenticeship applications at these free work experience days in November, which include department talks, networking and an application masterclass. It’s worth checking the website for the different deadlines.

🎙️ Browne Jacobson (Virtual)
If you’re curious about the employed Bar, Browne Jacobson is hosting an online pupillage evening on 26th November to show what life as an in-house barrister at a law firm is really like. Register through the link.

🚪 Charles Russell Speechlys (London, Guildford, Cheltenham & Virtual)
Open to any university student or graduate, including those already working, these open days include talks from trainees, associates and partners plus an applications masterclass. Reasonable travel expenses are covered for in-person days (we love to see it)!

👩⚖️ South Square (London)
Commercial chambers South Square is hosting a Pupillage Open Evening for Women in Law on 10th November, 6-7.30pm, covering pupillage applications, interviews and life as a pupil and barrister. Women and those from under-represented groups are particularly encouraged to come along, and spaces are first come, first served, so register soon.

💼 Trainee, Apprenticeship & Pupillage Roles

⛰️ Burnetts (Carlisle & Newcastle)
Burnetts offers more than one route to qualifying. LPC graduates and SQE1 passers (with SQE2 funded) can apply for its 2029 Training Contract, with four seats across commercial and/or private client work, or you can start as a Paralegal and apply internally for full SQE funding after 12 months. Plenty of time to apply for this one.

🧩 Irwin Mitchell (Nationwide)
Training contract applications are now open at Irwin Mitchell, starting with an online strengths-based questionnaire and video interview. You can also join one of their virtual events to find out more before you apply. Deadline for training contract applications: 1st December.

🌳 Cripps (London and surrounding areas)
Cripps has opened applications for both its 2027 Solicitor Apprenticeship and its 2028 Training Contract, with open evenings and online insight sessions to help you decide which route suits you. The apprenticeship closes on 3rd January and the training contract on 17th January.

⚖️ Justice First Fellowship (Wales, London & more)
The Legal Education Foundation’s two-year, fully funded training contract is designed for aspiring social justice lawyers, and this year’s hosts include Public Law Project (based in Wales) and the Centre for Women’s Justice. You’ll need to have passed the LPC or SQE1 by 14th March 2027. Deadline: 30th November.

🗒️ Paralegal & Entry Level Roles

⭐ Inclusie's pick of the week ⭐️

🧾 HMRC (Nationwide)
Tax and law overlap more than you might think, and HMRC’s Tax Specialist Programme has 500 graduate places nationwide. It’s a 3-4 year training course where you’ll work on tax cases while studying.

All you need to apply is an 2:2 (or expected 2:2 by September 2027) degree and the right to work in the UK. It’s a strong alternative career for analytically minded graduates.

💻 MediaKind (Remote, UK)
Recent law graduates interested in tech should take a look at this in-house role at a global video technology company. You’d draft commercial contracts and support negotiations, compliance and IP work, with a focus on using AI to improve how the legal team works. Previous in-house experience isn’t essential, and the role is remote within the UK, with occasional travel to Southampton.

🎓 Geldards (Derby)
This is a permanent paralegal role in the commercial disputes team at a national firm founded over 100 years ago, with offices across England and Wales. The team advises a broad mix of businesses, local authorities, charities and public bodies, so you’d see litigation across both private and public sector work. If you’re in the East Midlands and want a solid foothold in contentious work, this one is worth a look.

🏡 Walker Wise Solicitors (Accrington)
Here’s a rare chance to be trained by the person you’re replacing: Walker Wise’s outgoing conveyancing paralegal is moving into litigation as a Trainee Solicitor and will train you herself. You’ll handle purchase and sale files, SDLT forms and Land Registry applications. Previous conveyancing experience is preferred but not essential.

🐙 Octopus Legacy (Bristol)
This Probate Legal Assistant role involves helping bereaved families with probate applications and estate administration, with experienced Case Managers teaching you the process from scratch. No legal background is needed, just strong communication, organisation and the empathy to support people through bereavement.

🎭 Shakespeare Martineau (Birmingham)
Shakespeare Martineau, part of Ampa Group, is hiring a permanent, full-time Legal Assistant for the shared legal resource team in its managed legal services business. They expressly call out retail/hospitality experience as being advantageous. Apply ASAP.

💜 Centre for Women’s Justice (London)
This feminist legal charity is leading a new Independent Legal Advice service and it’s recruiting Paralegals to help launch it (note: this role will involve dealing with sensitive subject matter). It’s a chance to be part of a landmark access to justice project from the very start and make a real difference, with full time and part-time options available. Some experience is required for this one so worth checking the requirements. Apply ASAP.

📁 Jacksons (Stockton-on-Tees)
Jacksons’ Commercial Property team is hiring a Legal Administrator to manage client files, run ID, AML and conflict checks, order property searches and prepare legal documents. They’re offering both full-time and part-time options and they note that they offer a fantastic flexible working scheme. They are ideally looking for someone with prior experience.

🛒 Co-op (Manchester)
Co-op’s in-house Legal team is hiring a Paralegal to manage their own caseload, advising teams across the business and drafting and negotiating a wide range of legal documents with support from experienced solicitors. You’ll need a 2:1 law degree or a GDL with commendation, plus some commercial awareness from work or work experience. Applications include a 50-minute online assessment and may close early, so apply ASAP if you’re interested.

Your questions answered

Q: I’ve just started my second year of Law at university but I can’t imagine myself living in London. All the opportunities I see online outside of your newsletter are at big London firms and all my friends are applying to those. Where do I start looking for opportunities with a better work/life balance which would allow me to live nearer home?

University student

My response: First, well done for working out what you want so early on. I think social media has really glamorised aspects of the legal profession and it’s important to ask yourself what will make you feel happy and fulfilled. Frankly, the big London firms often dominate the conversation because they run the most adverts, fill the most law fairs, sponsor the most events and have the biggest budgets. It can make them look like the only option but they aren’t. Most solicitors in England and Wales work outside the City, and plenty of them have brilliant careers close to home (I’d like to think of myself as one of them)!

Here’s some ideas of where to start looking:

🗺️ Regional and national firms near you

You can look at the regional rankings in The Legal 500 and Chambers UK to see which firms, with practice areas you’re interested in, are local to you. Then check their careers pages directly. Regional firms often recruit or offer work experience through their own websites, so they’re easy to miss if you’re only scrolling LinkedIn.

🏢 Consider in-house or public sector

Lots of companies, from local businesses to big national brands, have their own legal teams. In-house roles are often known for (generally) more predictable hours. Look at major employers in your area and check whether they hire paralegals, legal assistants or apprentices. Similarly, local councils, the Government Legal Profession, the CPS and regulators all employ lawyers and legal staff, with offices well beyond London. These roles often come with flexible working, good benefits packages and a strong focus on balance.

⚖️ Remember the SQE has changed the game

If you’re hoping to qualify via the SQE, you don’t need a traditional training contract. Qualifying work experience can be built up across up to four organisations, including paralegal and similar roles. That opens up far more local options than your friends’ application lists might suggest.

🤝 Tap into your local network

Your local law society, your university careers service and the Junior Lawyers Division are all great starting points. Search LinkedIn for solicitors in your home town and give them a follow or even ask them for a quick chat. Most people are happy to help.

One last thing: Please do keep checking the newsletter. We know not every edition may have something in your area, but we do try to feature plenty of opportunities outside of London, with more coming on this soon.

In summary, you may have to work a little harder to find opportunities, but you can absolutely build a great career in law without moving to London 💛

5 minutes with… Farrah Knapp, on starting third year without a legal placement Story page

Every week, I read messages about how tough and competitive the legal market is. So what do you do if you haven’t secured a legal placement or work experience yet?

I absolutely loved reading Farrah’s piece. In a world of “I’m thrilled to announce” LinkedIn posts, Farrah’s piece offers something different. It’s authentic, honest and inspiring. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

After a year full of applications, video interviews, and assessment centres, I still did not secure a placement.

For a very long time, I thought getting a placement was just the natural next step, the thing that would make everything else click into place and confirm I was actually on track. When it did not happen, I felt like a failure. I seriously considered spending my entire summer, and whatever was left of exam season, sending out as many applications as possible. I felt like I was always behind. But I had been applying since August 2025, and I knew that shutting myself in my room chasing one more rejection was not going to do my grades, or my sanity, any favours. I stopped applying in April 2026, just before exams, and asked myself: so, now what?

I decided to actually enjoy my summer and use it as a reset before going into my third year rather than wasting the time wondering what could have been. I began building something I could carry into third year, rather than just waiting for the next cycle to start.

Here is what that looked like, and what it means for you now that term has started:

🧭 Start by building your own picture of the market.

I began a Google Doc to research firms in depth: their practice areas, culture, recent deals, client reviews, anything that told me whether I would actually want to work there and whether I would thrive. Building this document has helped me figure out what I actually want, which will make my applications tailored, sharper, and faster.

🔍 Send the email anyway.

I also sent many speculative applications, for work experience, insight days, and internships. A handful to London firms, a handful in Kent, a handful elsewhere. Most ended in rejection, but some turned into real conversations.

Fun fact: I got my first genuine piece of legal exposure through a cold email when I was in sixth form!

My advice would be to send that email. What is the worst that could happen? I have stopped treating rejections as something that has the power to knock me down. Now I see them as practice: a chance to get better at explaining, clearly and honestly, why I actually want to join the profession.

📌 Take the “virtual” seriously.

I threw myself into virtual programmes too, which gave me a real insight into commercial law. There are a few that are still open to applications:

• GROW’s Commercial Launchpad

• A few (in-progress) Forage simulations

• Some online programmes exploring firms like Freshfields.

I have also registered for a non-commercial law virtual internship with Olliers Solicitors (now closed for 2026 but worth keeping an eye out for) as I wanted to keep my options open. Each experience gave me a clearer glimpse into the day-to-day of a solicitor and touched upon firm culture beyond its website.

🚆 Stop, prioritise yourself.

And then I stepped away from all of it to travel for just over two weeks around Europe. Away from emails, the Google Doc, and the quiet pressure of third year that had been building since April. I spent time with family, friends, and my boyfriend, doing nothing more productive than just being present.

🍁 What this means for this term:

• Turn your research into applications. If you have already started a document like mine, amazing. If not, consider spending an evening researching the firms you would want to work at, then tailor an application and make yourself stand out!

• Send those speculative emails. Autumn is when insight days, open days and vacation schemes usually begin taking applications and inboxes are quietest. Go for it, you would be surprised what one email can lead to.

• Register for those virtual programmes and insight days that open this term. Do something that gives you something real to talk about in interviews and makes why law? and why this area of law? much easier to answer.

• But also, protect your term time. You are at university doing a hard degree and your grades matter. Do what you can for applications, then give yourself room to breathe, socialise and get your degree!

Third year is a marathon, not a sprint. If you are feeling behind, remember your life moves at your speed, not someone else’s. A slower path does not mean you are worse off or behind. A summer without a placement did not decide my third year before it started, and it does not have to decide yours either.

Thank you so much to Farrah for this piece! If you want to follow her journey, you can connect with her on LinkedIn here.

This week’s career tip

If you’re looking for an entry-level legal role, consider looking beyond the title “paralegal”. Examples of other titles are legal assistant, contracts administrator, compliance assistant or governance officer. They usually involve similar work and often have less applicants, so worth setting up your job alerts to include these too.

That’s all for now. See you next week!

Emma

Enjoyed this newsletter? You can read previous editions here💛

The careers advice shared in this newsletter is intended as general guidance and should not be treated as formal legal or recruitment advice. I do my best to keep all opportunities and deadlines accurate and up-to-date at the time of writing, but always double-check the employer’s website before applying.