Legal Jobs Bristol

Legal Jobs in England can be divided into three areas; ancillary legal professionals, Barristers and Solicitors. Scotland and Northern Ireland have a different legal system to ours, and as we are concentrating on Bristol, I will not go into too much detail on the differences between the English/ Welsh system and the rest of the UK.

Ancillary Legal Professionals

There are many different roles within the legal profession and some of them will be described below, however there are many more than this so take your time when applying for jobs and do your research to the actual tasks you will be required to do.

Barrister’s Clerk is a redundant job title as the role itself requires a high level of activity and the work load is massive. They are responsible for the administrative and business activities of the barrister’s chambers they work in, including marketing, financial management, knowledge of the chambers’ cases and of court etiquette. There is a fairly low salary starting rate as the position does not require a degree and school/college leavers can enter the role. However, clerks with between five and ten years of experience can expect to earn anything between £30,000 and £100,000 annually.

Legal Executives are qualifies lawyers who specialise in a particular area of law with five years of experience under the supervision of a solicitor. Only members of the Institute of legal Executives can call themselves by that job title. The difference between these and other legal professionals is that they have their own client file and are paid directly by them. Before qualification you are looking at a salary of £14,000 and £20,000. After qualification salaries range from £25,000 and £45,000 although this does vary depending on the location.

Barristers

Barristers in the UK represent individuals or organisations in court under the instruction of a solicitor. They usually work on a self-employed basis through a chambers. The starting salary for a barrister before tax and chamber chargers have been deducted can be anything between £10,000 and £90,000 according to prospects.ac.uk. After five years of experience this increases to between £40,000 and £200,000. Senior barristers can earn up to £1,000,000 and members of the Queen’s Council earn over £1,000,000 annually. To become a barrister in England or Wales you need to have completed a degree in law or taken the law conversion course after another degree. Then training is in the form of the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) Which will become the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) in 2010.

Solicitors

Solicitors work on a commercial or non-commercial basis. For both the qualifications necessary are a degree in law or a law conversion after another degree, followed by a Legal Practise Course over 1 year and then two years of training with a law firm.

A commercial solicitor can work for a business of all sizes. For smaller businesses, they usually are involved with start-ups and legal issues surrounding staff etc. For larger businesses, a solicitor may be charged with overseeing the legalities of mergers and acquisitions and other large corporate transactions. Salaries start at anything between £16,000 to £40,000 for firms in London and other major cities. Senior corporate lawyers can look to earn six figures with bonuses on top.

Non-commercial solicitors work with individuals or organisations in a private facility. They are sometimes referred to as ‘high street firms’ dealing with the legal actions of the local community. Solicitors who do not work commercially tend to specialise in one specialist area. Common sectors include residential conveyancing, family law, wills and probate and criminal litigation. Non-commercial solicitor’s salaries tend to be smaller than those for commercial solicitors, starting at £15,000-£20,000 and rising to between £40,000 and £50,000. If you become a partner in a firm you also take home a share of the profits and equity.

For every type of legal work you need some knowledge of the law and criminal proceeding in the country you are working in. It helps if you keep up to date with cases and decisions if you are a barrister’s clerk or a top end solicitor.