Paralegal Apprenticeship

Shoosmiths - UK Law Firm of the Year Winner at the Legal Week British Legal Awards 2015.

A leading UK law firm with a network of offices from the South Coast to Scotland, working together as one national team. An innovative practice and the first top 100 law firm to achieve “Gold Standard” Investors in People, our values and culture are not just words on our website but are the heartbeat of the firm. The lack of barriers between departments, a real lack of hierarchy, zero tolerance for arrogance and pomposity makes Shoosmiths a fantastic place to work.

Shoosmiths Private Client Conveyancing Team offers a highly professional conveyancing service designed to make the process of buying or selling property as efficient and stress-free for their clients.

Shoosmiths remains the largest firm of conveyancing solicitors accredited under the Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme. The conveyancing service provided by our Private Client Practice maintains the same high standards corporate clients have come to expect of Shoosmiths and is consistently commended in national consumer service awards.

As part of an exciting period of growth, Shoosmiths Residential Conveyancing department is looking to bring on two Paralegal Apprentices to join its busy Northampton team.  

This is a fantastic opportunity for you if you’re looking to move into a career in Law. As an apprentice in the Conveyancing department, you will assist the case teams in the running of their files, working on the end-to-end life-cycle of a case and ensuring that our customers are kept update throughout the purchase or sale of their property. You will receive full internal training alongside completion of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX) Level 3 qualification.

• Work within a team to assist with the full Conveyancing process.
• Use a Case Management System to produce, store and diarise activity on each case
• Progress the administration of transactions proactively and keep customers updated throughout the process.
• Work within a strictly regulated and compliance driven environment
• Take client instructions, ensuring that information is clearly communicated between the parties as required
• Various administrative duties such as dealing with post, filing, file closures and distributing faxes 

Career progression 

There will be excellent progression opportunities available once you have completed the apprenticeship, with the opportunity to progress to Case Handler level whereby you will be given accountability for your own caseload of files and continue your training to take on more complex files. You will also be given the opportunity to progress onto the Conveyancing Technician Apprenticeship (Level 4) pathway. 

Skills & Experience required:

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and Outlook).
• Ability to work within a business environment
• Ability to work with technology
• Customer service skills
• Excellent telephone manner.
• Excellent Team Player
• Treat colleague’s clients and suppliers with equal respect.
• Enthusiasm and willingness to learn.
• Dress appropriately and deal with all contacts in a professional manner.
• A commitment to on-going development and education.
• Strong attention to detail

Qualifications required:

• A minimum of 5 GCSEs at grade C or above (or equivalent), including English and Maths.
• One of the following:
  • 2x A Levels grades A-C or equivalent qualification
  • 12 months working experience within a Law Firm
  • Level 2 Diploma in Legal Administration

Benefits package 

Shoosmiths has an outstanding benefits package; we believe that all staff should be rewarded for their commitment to the continued success of the firm. These can include:

• A pension scheme with employer contributions of up to 5.5%
• Generous life assurance cover for peace of mind, up to 8 times salary
• Up to 23 paid working days holiday per annum with the option to buy up to 8 additional days. You can choose to 'flex' twice a year - January and July
• 'Happy Birthday!' - have a free day off to celebrate and a £50 voucher to spend! (We won't take it from your annual entitlement)
• Childcare vouchers which are not subject to tax or NI
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Staff introduction bonus scheme
• Corporate discounts on a wide variety of products and services
• Discounted conveyancing and legal advice, for instance for wills and family trusts

Shoosmiths is a committed Equal Opportunities employer promoting equality of opportunity. This means that everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, whatever their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.