Careers Spotlight: Paralegal

What is a Paralegal?

Paralegals play an important role within the Legal Sector, often working alongside lawyers and solicitors. Trained and educated to perform a wide range of legal duties, Paralegals can assist in many legal matters as an alternative to solicitors apart from some ‘reserved activities’ which only solicitors can do.

Paralegals can work in a wide range of industries, you’ll often find paralegals within the media, entertainment, fashion, government along with roles within legal environments. As paralegals can offer a wide range of legal assistance, many are now working as Licenced Practitioners and own their own Paralegal Firms.

Types of paralegal work

Areas of specialisation include:

• advocacy and mediation

• commercial, corporate and business law

• consumer law

• contracts/dispute resolution

• conveyancing and property

• crime

• debt recovery and mortgage repossessions

• employment law

• litigation (criminal and civil)

• matrimonial and family law

• personal injury

• wills, probate and administration of estates.

Responsibilities

As a paralegal, you'll typically need to:

• carry out office administration, including billing and writing letters

• organise diaries, schedule meetings and respond to telephone queries

• write first document drafts, such as contracts, and proofread documents

• conduct legal research

• analyse and input legal data

• write articles for internal or external circulation

• organise case files, attend court inquests and tribunals, transcribe legal opinion and compile litigation bundles

• file documents at court

• network with clients and build valuable relationships

• negotiate contracts and legal documents

• complete official documentation and write reports on cases

• take witness statements

• attend meetings with experts or claimants.

The amount of these activities that you'll do and the level of responsibility you'll have will depend on your experience and level of specialism, as well as the type of employer you work for.

What to expect

Most of the work is office based, although you may assist in preparation for court cases or attend meetings with clients at off-site locations. You may also visit court on occasions for inquests, tribunals and criminal cases.

Competition for paralegal roles in commercial firms can be fierce, as many law graduates wanting to become a solicitor or barrister seek paralegal experience.

Some students secure part-time paralegal roles alongside their law degree or postgraduate legal studies - this is an excellent way to gain valuable legal experience.

The role varies widely depending on your practice area. For example, if you're working in conveyancing you're not likely to have much face-to-face contact with clients. However, if you undertake criminal work, you'll need to attend court, police stations and talk to suspects.

Variation and intensity of work can depend on the firm, the size of the team you are supporting and how many paralegals are working in the team.

Paralegal roles are available across the UK but there are more jobs in towns and cities. Large commercial firms tend to establish their businesses in big cities near commercial areas.

Do you need a Law Degree to become a Paralegal?

You do not need a Law Degree to become a paralegal. However, many employers look for legal or paralegal training. There are specialist qualifications for paralegals, developed to give you the skills and knowledge to work effectively as a paralegal. If you do have a Law Degree, you can benefit from a Postgraduate Paralegal Diploma and work as a Licenced Paralegal.

Skills

You'll need to have:

• excellent written and verbal communication skills

• the ability to manage multiple tasks or caseloads

• good attention to detail to be able to carefully analyse files and data

• legal research skills and the desire to develop your understanding of the law

• time management skills and the ability to work well under pressure and to tight deadlines

• office administrative skills for tasks such as filing, typing and letter writing

• good teamwork skills particularly when working with other departments to complete your tasks

• negotiation skills in order to negotiate with clients

• a flexible and adaptable approach to your work

• an understanding of the clients' needs

• professionalism when working with colleagues, senior partners, experts and clients

If you want to learn more about becoming a paralegal click on the links below

Boosting your CV

In this section we have looked at how boost your CV.  A good CV will get you noticed and invited for an interview, but no further.  The key to a successful interview lies in soft skills.

Communication

Communication, while complex, is a vital part of succeeding in just about every avenue of life. It’s one thing to know what’s right or know what to do, but it’s another thing entirely to be able to clearly communicate that to the right people at the right time. Developing strong communication skills, both verbally and in writing, is an essential soft skill for the modern workplace.

Interpersonal Skills

Closely related to communication, interpersonal skills are all those intangibles you need to relate well to others, build relationships, and generate the necessary rapport to make inroads and win discussions.

If you’ve ever been in a discussion and emerged from it unsure how the other person convinced you to agree, you were dealing with someone with exceptional interpersonal skills. While some people are born with naturally strong interpersonal skills, everyone can learn strategies to improve in this area.

Unifrog

What is Unifrog?

Unifrog is a one-stop-shop where students can easily explore their interests, then find and successfully apply for their next best step after school. All of our students can login to Unifrog using the school login details.  However we think Unifrog is so good we want parents and carers to use it as well.  To use Unifrog for free go to  unifrog.org/code, enter the code HXRTparents.  You will be asked for some basic details and then you are in.

Help for Parents and Carers

When it comes to education and careers, parents and carers have a large influence on a students choices. As an adult you are expected to have all the answers, but in a constantly evolving world it can be a struggle to keep up with the latest options out there.  In this section we will highlight resources that will help keep you up to date with careers and the choices available to young people.

Last month we looked at where you can research possible career options, at how to start the conversations about careers.

I want to talk at home about careers but don't know where to start

In terms of career choice, you should:

• Aid, but not dictate, the decision-making process

• Support your child’s decisions

• Give your children freedom and time to discover their skills

• Provide motivation to develop and achieve

• Provide encouragement to pursue interests and ambitions

• Try to instil a responsible attitude and mature outlook

• Instil an attitude of self belief by being positive and never critical – as a parent your words will have the biggest effect on your child.

• Talking Futures have a website and lots of resources to help parents talk about careers, click on the image below to find out more

Careers in Hertfordshire: Life Sciences

The 'Golden Triangle', made up of Oxford, Cambridge and London, marks the central cluster of the UK’s life sciences industry, at the heart of which lies Hertfordshire. Within the triangle are four of the world’s top 10 universities for medical and scientific research: Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial College London and University College London.

UK researchers and institutions have been credited with major scientific breakthroughs including the discovery of penicillin and the structure of DNA, advancements in neuroscience and medical imaging, and developments in stem cell research and in-vitro fertilisation. Businesses benefit from the opportunity to tap into this pool of talent and research expertise.

More than 5,600 life sciences companies operate in the UK, with a turnover of over £60 billion and exports that exceed £30 billion. These companies span product development, supply and associated services, and employ more than 220,000 people.

There are many routes into science careers which can be explore on our HOP science profile. Watch our HOP into Science short video to meet Hertfordshire residents who work in this area and also meet Eilidh who has recently completed a Technician Scientist, Higher Apprenticeship with GSK and won the Higher or Degree apprentice of the year at the East of England regional apprenticeship awards and was also highly commended in the National awards.

A Skilled Workforce

 The sector is supported by a skilled workforce. In 2016, a total of 38,800 science, research, engineering and technology professionals worked in Hertfordshire – 50% above the national average, with an additional 10,300 people working as science, engineering and technology associate professionals.

There are 2,800 people working in pharmaceuticals and the industry is 4.1 times more important as a local employer than the national average. The total number of pharmaceuticals manufacturing jobs is 75% higher than in Greater Cambridgeshire, Greater Peterborough and the Oxfordshire areas combined.

Life sciences employed 13,200 people in Hertfordshire in 2015. There were 330 enterprises in pharmaceutical and life sciences research in 2016. While the sector is dominated by large enterprises, there has been a remarkable growth in the business population, which has risen by 4.1% annually since 2010.

Household names

 Hertfordshire is home to some of the most famous names in pharmaceuticals, thanks in part to its unique base of local research assets and its proximity to other major national and international research centres.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is one of the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical companies. It has a global R&D centre at Stevenage and a significant manufacturing and R&D site at nearby Ware. The company, which is renowned for its work on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, is a major partner in the development of the UK’s first innovation bioscience campus at Stevenage.

Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst is home to a cluster of small bio-tech companies, sharing specialist knowledge, skills and equipment, leading to faster innovation in drug development. The centre is pioneering a culture to support early stage bio-tech, pharma and medtech developments, including convergent medical technologies. Occupants include MRC (Medical Research Council) Technology, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Cambridge University, and University College London.

Roche undertakes leading research into oncology and viral diseases and pioneers new products for specialist use in hospitals from its base in Welwyn Garden City.

Galvani Bioelectronics is a new company, established in November 2016, dedicated to the development of bioelectronic medicines – a new class of medicines consisting of miniaturised, implantable devices. Formed through a partnership between GSK, and leading technology company, Verily Life Sciences (which is the life sciences arm of Alphabet, Google’s parent company), Galvani Bioelectronics combines the complementary expertise of its parent companies to enable the research, development and commercialisation of bioelectronic therapies. Galvani Bioelectronics is headquartered within GSK’s global R&D centre in Stevenage.

For more information please go to www.hopinto.co.uk/ 

Current Opportunities

This month we have some amazing opportunities to learn about future careers.  The NHS Health and Social Care is coming up in April.   There are also opportunities to investigate apprenticeships within the finance industry, rental industry and the logistics industry

NHS Health and Social Care Careers Fair at Middlesex University

We’d like to invite your students to our upcoming event NHS Health and Social Care Careers Fair at Middlesex University Campus in Hendon.  

NHS Careers Fair 

Thursday 6th March 2025, 4.30pm-7.00pm, at Middlesex University, Hendon. 

Aimed at Year 10 and above, this fair is a fantastic opportunity for students to learn more about the 350+ careers available within the NHS. On the day, your students will be able to: 

• chat with healthcare professionals and receive personalised advice 

• learn about the NHS and social care in live talks and career panels 

• ask questions about the routes into the sector during talks with healthcare workers 

Exhibitors include representatives from a number of professions, including GPs, nurses, pharmacists, opticians, paramedics, dentists, Allied Health Professionals (including Occupational, Speech and Physiotherapists) and social workers as well as colleges and further education institutions offering a variety of health-related courses. Last year's careers fair had over 100 exhibitors.  

I hope this will be of interest to your students and you will encourage them to join us. 

Please encourage your students to book their place here Nhs Social Care Careers Fair | Middlesex University  Please also see the link to a video from last year's careers fair NCL Careers Fair 2024 

If you have any further questions, please get in touch with Ama Smith at ama.smith1@nhs.n

Discover Extraordinary Career Paths with an EY Apprenticeship!
Applications for 2025 are now open!

Do you know a young person eager to start their career journey? If they’re curious, analytical, and love solving problems, an EY apprenticeship could be their gateway to success! 

Why an EY Apprenticeship?

At EY, we believe in setting young people up for success. Our apprenticeships in Assurance, Strategy and Transactions, or Tax offer:

 Real-World Impact: Experience working with clients, from local businesses to global brands.
Top Qualifications: Earn industry-recognised professional qualifications equivalent to a master's degree.
Faster Progression: Start earning and developing skills immediately, often advancing quicker than university students.
Practical Learning: Gain real-world experience, backed by expert mentorship and support.
Strong Connections: Join a cohort of peers, building friendships and networks from day one.

Applications are now open.

Browse our programmes and unlock a world of opportunities! 

Explore EY Apprenticeships

Support Their Next Step

Help them shape their future with confidence. Visit the Career Heights zone on our immersive Adventure Awaits platform for resources on:

• Guiding them through the application process

• Helping them prepare for interviews

• Ensuring they make the most of their EY apprenticeship

Apprenticeships with DHL

DHL are the global leader in logistical solutions.  DHL have sites around the UK and are currently offering a variety of apprenticeships in the South-East.  If this sounds interesting please click on the link below to find out more

DHL Apprenticeships 

Apprenticeships with Sunbelt Rentals

As part of FTSE100 Ashtead Group plc, Sunbelt Rentals is the leader in equipment rentals in the UK, US and Canada - as well as specialist operations in Europe.

Sunbelt apprenticeships