Law

Jobs within the legal sector

Visit our Get into Law pages for more information about legal careers: Get Into Law – How to progress from student to lawyer. (Formerly KLS Employability) (kent.ac.uk)

  • Barrister – Barristers are specialist legal advisers and advocates who, providing they have  undertaken the necessary training, can  appear in all courts, including the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. They play an extremely important  role in helping individuals and institutions understand, pursue and defend their legal rights.
  • Solicitor – A solicitor is a qualified legal professional who provides specialist legal advice on different areas of law and is responsible for representing and defending a client’s legal interest. The role of a solicitor is to take instructions from clients, including individuals, groups, public sector organisations or private companies, and advise them on necessary courses of legal action.
  • Chartered Legal Executive – Chartered Legal Executives often specialise in an area of law. They frequently work alongside solicitors or CILEx Practitioners. They can carry out reserved legal work, under the supervision of an authorised person such as a solicitor or CILEx Practitioner. Common areas that they work in are; conveyancing, criminal law, company and business law, litigation, personal injury, family law and probate.
  • Paralegal – Paralegals are law professionals working in a supporting role, to solicitors and barristers.

Other careers

  • Civil Service Fast Streamer
  • Patent Attorney
  • Arbitrator
  • Mediator
  • Barrister’s Clerk
  • Chartered Accountant
  • Police Officer / Detective
  • Legal tech

To explore these, and other careers further, please visit:

I want to work in … – Careers and Employability Service – University of Kent

Who would I work for?

Barristers are typically self-employed, working in Chambers. They share the responsibility of running these. You will find there are those that work for the government or for private and public organisations.

Solicitors can work for law firms, which can be city firms (e.g. Magic, Silver Circle), regional, international and high-street firms. They may also work exclusively for a company / organisation, which is termed ‘in-house’, or for the government.

Where can I look for jobs?

Legal roles

  • Get into Law Blog: here you will find lots of useful information on careers in law, qualification routes and how to secure work experience in the legal sector
  • Pupillage Gateway: this is the centralised system which advertises Pupillages
  • Law Careers Net: provides career insights, advertises insight days, vacation schemes, training contracts and holds law careers events
  • All About Law: provides career insights, advertises insight days, vacation schemes, training contracts, courses and holds law careers events
  • Legal Cheek: news, insights and vacancies
  • The Lawyer– advertises legal vacancies, including Paralegal roles, both in the UK and worldwide

Other careers