Simply Law Jobs Blog

Law Clerk Jobs Guide

Simply Law — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:53:39 +0000

A law clerk is a very important job within the legal profession and consequently, law clerk jobs are applied for by substantial amounts of people. The most prominent role fulfilled by those with law clerk jobs is to research the laws and the facts surrounding a case and to brief the judge on any causes of action that should be taken. Those who successfully land law clerk jobs are often recent graduates who performed at the top of their class through training. A law clerk may also be required to brief any lawyers in the same manner as the judge.

Law Clerk Job Description

Law clerk jobs are generally temporary, lasting for a year or so, after which the individual becomes very coveted by elite law firms because of the nature of the role and the high ability required to be selected. Successfully landing a law clerk job often opens many doors to quick progression through the legal profession.

The main duties for those holding law clerk jobs include:

Researching legal documents to investigate the facts in order to brief the judge of any courses of action in a court case.
To prepare and maintain any necessary documentation and to carry out any necessary correspondence.
Review any necessary documents relevant to specific court actions including file pleadings, petitions and other documents and if necessary present these to the opposing counsel.
To ensure the delivery and transports of any subpoenas to witnesses and parties.
Arrange transport and accommodation, if required, for any jurors or witnesses.
Communicate and arbitrate any disputes between parties.

Those seeking law clerk jobs should have excellent communication and interpersonal skills as well as excellent organisational and clerical skills. Candidates require an excellent level of oral and written English comprehension as well as excellent levels of speech clarity and recognition. Persuasiveness, social perceptiveness, problem solving and decision making are qualities that all of those looking for law clerk jobs should possess.

The average salary for law clerk jobs is between £20,000 and £35,000 per year.

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Employment Law Jobs Guide

Simply Law — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:18:42 +0000

Employment Law is a very complex and complicated issue that many businesses require legal advice and occasionally representation for. Consequently, there are lots of employment law jobs that exist to help both businesses and individuals with regards to employment law. This guide outlines what to expect from employment law jobs.

Employment Law Jobs General Info

Those who have employment law jobs, especially lawyers will carry out similar duties to those working in other law specialities. This will include:

Meeting with and advising clients on any issues related to employment law.
Drafting contracts and other legal documents,
Researching case law to ensure the accuracy of any advice given and supervising any implementation of agreements.
Acting on behalf of clients and representing them in court.
Supervising and advising junior legal professionals
Continued meetings with clients to ensure that a case progresses as desired and to finalise any documentation.
Keeping up to date with any changes in employment law by continued reading of law journals and reports.

The nature of employment law means that there are quite a lot of discrimination cases in the UK, all requiring expert representation from people who specialise in employment law.

Depending on experience, the position held and the company worked for, those with employment law jobs can expect a salary of anything between £30,000 and £100,000 per year, if not more.

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Legal Executive Jobs – A Guide

Simply Law — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:46:06 +0000

To successfully land a legal executive job, candidates must have at least five years experience working under the supervision of a solicitor. This could be in legal practice or in the legal department of a company. Legal executives are fully qualified lawyers who specialise in a particular area of the law. These specialist areas include: conveyancing, civil and criminal litigation, family law and probate.

Those with legal executive jobs have their own client files and work independently; their legal fees are paid directly to them which is the crucial difference between a legal executive and other legal support staff.

The General Duties in a Legal Executive Job

Generally, those with legal executive jobs will do things such as:

Meeting with clients
Explaining and advising complex legal matters to clients
Negotiating and corresponding both with and on behalf of clients
Interviewing and advising any clients or witnesses
Drawing up any legal documents including summonses and writs
Preparing legal documents for property, family law issues, wills, probate and litigation work
Calculating and explaining inheritance tax and wills to any beneficiaries
Attending court to represent clients and to assist barristers and solicitors with cases
Assigning and supervising work for junior staff
Other admin and clerical work

Legal Executive Jobs – Salaries

The salaries for legal executive jobs can vary depending on experience level, position held and in what company however. Those with legal executive jobs can be expected to earn anything between £30,000 and £80,000 per year, if not more.

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Trainee Legal Secretary Jobs – Getting Your First Job

Simply Law — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:29:50 +0000

Trainee legal secretarial jobs are there to give administrative and secretarial assistance to those working within the legal profession. There is a wide range of office management and admin tasks that legal secretary jobs could entail. Depending on the organisation, junior legal secretary jobs may need you to have direct contact with clients and have specialist roles.

Junior legal secretary jobs responsibilities include:

Dealing with office post and answering phone calls
Typing letters, reports, legal documents/paperwork
Proofreading documents and letters
Keeping records and accounts
Transcribing and taking dictation
The organisation of travel, appointments and other functions
Going to court, meetings with clients and police stations to take notes.

A lot of the time there are no specific minimum qualifications required to become a trainee legal secretary. This job can be an entry level, junior position. However, GCSEs are a plus. As this role depends on excellent admin and typing skills, demonstration of exceptional written and verbal English will go a long way.

For those that have no experience in this profession, it is worth having at least a year’s office experience on your CV. This will undoubtedly assist you in become successful in junior legal secretary jobs applications. The knowledge of main office software, as well as general office and admin decorum are valued for this position. Trainee legal secretary jobs salaries start at around £13,000. Through progress within a firm, this will go up considerably. Many find that additional training whilst on the job can further their careers in the legal profession too.

Legal secretary jobs can be found all over the country in many different firms and offices. Demand is high as the role is extremely important within the legal profession.

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Legal Support Jobs – A Guide

Simply Law — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:26:26 +0000

Legal support jobs require you to be trained with the right law education in order to provide support for lawyers. A person in a legal assistant job cannot give clients legal advice, sign legal documentation, or represent anyone in court. Along with the legal knowledge and qualifications, legal assistant jobs will require a candidate to have some secretarial and administration experience, good legal research skills and excellent writing skills.

Somebody in a legal assistant job would be expected to carry out a number of different tasks within a firm. Supervising lawyers may ask a legal assistant to draft contracts as well as some other legal documents before they are given to the lawyer and their client. Legal research will also be carried out in order to support a client’s case and generally assist the barrister in a courtroom situation.

Before clients see a lawyer, legal assistant work may entail interviewing them and any witnesses that may be involved. This kind of work is effective for a case as it provides a solicitor with all the necessary initial information needed to build a case.

Depending on the specific field of law, legal support jobs will probably seek more general legal knowledge from candidates. However, if a candidate does have relevant experience in a particular field, legal assistant work would be given to that person to save on training on the job. Firms will exploit particular strengths in candidates and so their work may vary. An example of this is if a potential legal assistant has experience or particular knowledge in family law. This candidate will be used for his/her know-how of adoption, divorce, custody and prenuptial agreement document writing.

Anyone considering applying for legal support jobs should have the following qualities:

Exceptional writing and research skills
Attention to detail
Customer service skills
Knowledge/qualifications of the law practised
Computer literacy
Good admin and general secretarial skills/experience

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Legal Secretary Job Description

Simply Law — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:17:21 +0000

Legal secretarial jobs are there to give administrative and secretarial help to people working within the legal world. There is a broad range of office management and admin tasks that legal secretary jobs entail. Depending on the firm legal secretaries jobs may need you to have direct contact with clients and have specialist roles.

Legal Secretary jobs responsibilities normally include:

Typing letters, reports, legal documents/paperwork
Dealing with office post and answering phone calls
Transcribing and taking dictation
The organisation of travel, appointments and other functions
Keeping records and accounts
Proofreading documents and letters
Going to court, meetings with clients and police stations (all to take notes)

Regular office hours (9am-5pm) will usually be worked and often part time legal secretarial jobs are available. The work is largely based at a desk and a great deal of tasks will be using a computer. The salary to expect could range from anything between £13,000 to £37,000. This depends on the firm, your experience and how long you have worked in the position.

Legal secretaries jobs skills:

Exceptional computer and typing skills
Good organisation
Excellent English
Attention to detail and accuracy
Interest in the law and admin.

Often there are not minimum qualifications needed for legal secretarial jobs, however employers will prefer maths and English GCSEs. If you demonstrate good writing skills you will stand more of a chance at getting legal secretary jobs.

Another way to get legal secretaries jobs is by attaining an apprenticeship. However, on the job training is common. After a while in one company, you may find that you progress with additional training to become a paralegal or a legal executive.

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Law Graduate Jobs – Getting Your First Job

Simply Law — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:09:44 +0000

Law jobs for graduates will continue to grow alongside the ever-expanding legal market in the UK. The routes into law are fairly standard with most having a traditional law degree and completing their LPC. However, some choose to obtain a degree in another field altogether but then have the option of studying an intensive masters in law in just a year. Whatever the chosen way, the qualifications and areas covered must be the same.

Law graduate jobs will require the candidate to have covered all of the seven traditional foundations of law. These are:

Contract and tort
Criminal law
Equity and law of trusts
Law of the European Union
Property law
Public law

(Those who have a law degree from foreign countries will need to apply for a Certificate of Academic Standing. This will legally confirm whether you can apply for English and Welsh law courses.)

LPC

After obtaining your degree in law, before you can apply for law graduates jobs, it is mandatory that you complete the Legal Practice Course. The LPC must be taken even if you have, or intend to do, a Masters in law. The LPC is the last hurdle before looking for law graduates jobs and eventually becoming a solicitor in Britain. It is a practical course that gives trainees the skills and knowledge required in the legal profession. The course can be completed at a range of institutions nationwide, and can be done as a full time one year course, or part time over two years.

Training Contract

Whilst studying for the LPC you should begin to apply for Training Contracts. Most candidates find that they will apply to a large number of firms and will only hear from a few. With this in mind, it is vital that you keep applying and do not become demoralised. It is perfectly normal to apply for tens of training contracts and only hear from a handful. This is because in 2009 there were 130 applicants for every one training contract.

Different training contracts will vary from firm to firm. Larger organisations will have more structured programmes in place. It is common that when on a training contract you will spend a certain number of months in different departments so that you can achieve an overall experience of the law profession.

Applications

Law graduates jobs will normally require a CV and covering letter and/or an application form to be filled out online.

It is thoroughly advisable to research all the firms you apply to. These firms look out for those who show they are motivated and their hunger for the job. Directories and websites will assist you in your research.

Some top firms will require you to apply as much as 2 years in advance of starting law graduate jobs, while most will need a year.

Future

From 2011, the Solicitors Regulation Authority will begin a new route into law. If successful, this could mean that traditional training contracts as they are known now could be abolished. The idea is to give more options for those who wish to become lawyers. Paralegals will be able to gain solicitor qualifications whilst at work. Trainees in training contracts will have to work harder in order to become a solicitor, rather than it being just a given at the end of the contract.

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Eversheds restarts graduate recruitment

cahuckerby — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:54:35 +0000

There was good news from Eversheds this week, as the firm confirmed that it would reanimate the lifeless corpse of its legal graduate recruitment programme.

In common with many firms last year, Eversheds deferred the start date for a bunch of its new legal trainees. Unlike many firms, however, it also announced a complete suspension of its graduate recruitment activities. A sorrowful note on the firm’s website said that as a result of the downturn it had made “the difficult decision not to accept further applications for Training Contracts“. The firm said that it would assess the position again in 2010.

And, having duly assessed it, it’s game on at the ‘Shed. The firm confirmed yesterday that it would be taking on all 27 trainees it deferred from last year, together with the 49 other trainees who were due to start this year anyway – and who had themelves feared being deferred. It would also be inviting candidates to apply for future training contracts, was hoping to take on around 50 new trainees a year, would be announcing a manned space programme and would shortly begin drilling for oil beneath 1 Wood Street.

The news, coupled with some generally decent NQ retention rates across the board and even some meagre pay rises at some firms, all points to confidence finally starting to return to the legal services market.

Eversheds CEO Bryan Hughes said he was “delighted to be able to make this commitment to these talented people“, and that it was important that “we again invest in the next generation of lawyers to underpin future growth“. He declined to comment on the space programme*

Source : Roll on Friday

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Law Graduate Jobs – Getting Your First Job

Family Law Jobs Guide

Simply Law — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:38:56 +0000

Family law deals with all issues that are family or domestically related. This could include all issues surrounding marriage, civil partnerships and domestic relations such as divorce, annulment, property and financial settlements as well as issues regarding children such as legitimacy, custody & visitation, adoption and child abuse. This list however is not exhaustive and there are also aspects of family law that can also be associated with criminal law and vice versa.

Those with family law jobs could be expected to work with clients who are going through divorce or separation proceedings as well as those who are going through the process of becoming married.

Due to the complex and varied nature of family law it is not possible to outline a completely typical day for someone working within the area of family law. Family law courts are one of the most crowded in the entire legal profession and lawyers can be expected to:

Represent clients in court in various cases concerning family law.
Advising clients in potential settlements and negotiations
Drafting and examining legal documents
Advising solicitors and other legal practitioners in legal cases.

Those looking for family law jobs will require a relevant law degree, usually to a 2:1 standard and some may require additional post graduate qualifications in the field of their choice. It can take year to become a top family lawyer but people with family law jobs can easily earn £60k pa and more.

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Media Law Jobs Guide

Simply Law — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:13:02 +0000

Media law can be very complicated and there are many different aspects that go to make up the umbrella term of media law. These could include libel, defamation, intellectual property law, advertising law and telecommunications law. Such a diverse industry has lots of different types of jobs in it and this guide outlines some of the media law jobs that exist within the industry.

Explaining Media Law Jobs

Defamation & Libel Law – those working in within the area known as defamation and libel law could be expected to deal with various different types of clients. A lawyer could be representing a person or business that has been the victim of defamatory or libellous allegations. Or conversely, they could be working for a newspaper or publication that is seeking to defend itself in a libel case. Many practitioners within this sector provide pre-publishing advice to companies to help them avoid a libel case. Defamation and Libel law covers anything that appears in print, broadcast and web based media.

Advertising & Marketing Law – those working within advertising and media law will specialise in assisting clients with the way that they can advertise their products. Advertising law governs the placement, timing and content of adverts in a range of mediums such as print, broadcast and online. Those with media law jobs in this sector will be expected to assist clients in making sure that their advertising campaigns are legal and also working with clients who feel a certain advertising campaign falls foul of advertising law.

Intellectual Property Law – this sector of media law focuses largely on copyright law within the media industry. Those with media law jobs in this industry will be expected to work with clients who feel that their intellectual property rights have been breached in some way or advising clients to ensure that their work does not fall foul of copyright law. Copyright law is a very complex sector within the media jobs law and practitioners will be expected be able to successfully represent a client on both sides of the argument.

These are some of the key areas in which to find media law jobs, another large aspect of media law however deals with breach of privacy and of confidence. Those with media law jobs in this sector of the industry could be expected to represent clients who are involved in a breach of privacy case. Celebrities and broadcast/print media companies can often find themselves involved in breach of privacy cases.

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