{"id":4337,"date":"2022-02-11T12:40:57","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T12:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/getintolaw\/?page_id=4337"},"modified":"2022-04-20T15:15:10","modified_gmt":"2022-04-20T14:15:10","slug":"in-house-lawyers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/getintolaw\/how-to-2\/in-house-lawyers\/","title":{"rendered":"– Become an In-House Lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Law Society’s Annual Statistics Report 2019 found that in-house practice is the fastest growing sector of the legal profession with an estimated 31,000 registered in-house solicitors (triple that of 20 years ago). .\u00a0 It is expected that following the pandemic this will further increase.\u00a0 See\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to find out more about why this is happening.<\/p>\n

What is “In-House Lawyer”<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Also known as In-House Counsel or Legal Counsel an In-House Lawyer works exclusively for their employer i.e. their employer is their sole client and they may work across all of the legal areas that the organisation\/company touches.\u00a0 They do not need to attract new customers or bill their time, as they will be on a fixed salary (with bonus earnings common) but they may need to be skilled across a number of different legal practice areas.\u00a0 Typical practice areas are commercial and corporate law, employment, IP, data protection.\u00a0 \u00a0 In-house lawyers will sometimes engage lawyers in private practice to assist in legal matters that may need additional expertise.\u00a0 \u00a0 Organisations employing in-house lawyers vary in size and the legal team can be anything from one lawyer to a team of 30+.\u00a0 In a large team the head of the team is likely to be called “General Counsel” or “Head of Legal”.\u00a0 \u00a0In-house lawyers can be either barristers or solicitors.<\/p>\n

You can read more about in-house lawyers here:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.totallylegal.com\/article\/in-house-counsel-job-description#:~:text=In%2DHouse%20Counsel%20%E2%80%93%20also%20known,on%20behalf%20of%20multiple%20clients.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

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How to become an in-house lawyer<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Although approx. 20%<\/span> of lawyers work in-house, proportionately, there have not been 20% of training contracts in-house.\u00a0 This may change as non-law firms start to embrace the flexibility offered by the new training pathway (SQE\/QWE).\u00a0 The norm is for lawyers to move ‘in-house’ after building up a few years of post-qualification experience.\u00a0 But there are some training positions in-house and there is commonly paralegal work too.<\/p>\n

In-house training:<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2020, 27% of training contracts in-house were in the public sector.\u00a0 \u00a0Be aware that organisations offering in-house training may not take trainees every year – they will only advertise when there is an opening.\u00a0 \u00a0You can train in-house training with:<\/p>\n