Paralegal Apprenticeship

Pinsent Masons Germany LLP; Manchester; On-site; GBP 20,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is offering a unique opportunity for aspiring legal professionals to join their Paralegal Centre of Excellence in Manchester. As an apprentice paralegal, you will gain invaluable hands-on experience working alongside seasoned lawyers and paralegals on real-life legal projects while studying towards the Level 3 Paralegal Apprenticeship. This role allows you to earn while you learn, providing a solid foundation for a successful career in law. With a supportive team and a variety of practice areas to explore, this apprenticeship is a fantastic stepping stone into the legal field, paving the way for future career progression opportunities within the firm.

Benefits

Training and Development Courses

Active Social Life

Networking Opportunities

Sports Activities

Charity Work

Qualifications

• Candidates must have the right to live and work in the UK for the apprenticeship duration.
• Training includes on-the-job learning and formal sessions.

Responsibilities

• Manage documentation for legal matters and assist in drafting legal documents.
• Conduct legal research and maintain template documents for transactions.

Skills

Legal Research

Document Management

Drafting Legal Documents

Administrative Support

Education

Level 3 Paralegal Apprenticeship

Tools

Legal Technology Tools

Job description

A paralegal is a highly valued member of a legal team that has extensive knowledge of the law and legal matters, but is not a qualified lawyer. Paralegals undertake a wide variety of administrative and legal work. The work our paralegals do is a key part of how we deliver legal services and they can choose to specialise in a specific area of the law. We have developed the Paralegal Centre of Excellence, which brings together a range of paralegal skills and capabilities and provides a variety of services to both our lawyers and our clients. These include managed legal services, flexible legal provision, legal project management, legal technology consultancy and company secretarial.

As an apprentice paralegal, you will join our Vario Paralegal Centre of Excellence, working alongside experienced paralegals and lawyers on client projects. Your specific experience will depend on the practice area you join (this may include Construction & Projects, Property, Finance & Banking, Disputes, Intellectual Property, Cyber Data & Privacy, Employment, Corporate), but you will make a genuine contribution and will be continuously learning.

This is a unique opportunity to gain practical experience working on real-life legal projects alongside experienced legal professionals, while also studying towards the Level 3 Paralegal Apprenticeship standard. In addition to covering the training fees, we will also pay you a salary, which will enable you to ‘earn while you learn’.

Our 2025 Paralegal Apprenticeship opportunities are available in our Birmingham and Manchester offices.

Please note, due to the funding requirements all candidates must have the right to live and work in the UK for the full duration of the apprenticeship.

What is the recruitment process?

The below shows the typical recruitment process for our legal apprenticeships.

01. Registration & application form

Tell us about yourself, your academic history and your employment history where applicable. We also gather information about you to support our contextualized recruitment approach.

02. Online blended assessment

The next stage of the recruitment process will involve completing our online blended assessment. This blended assessment incorporates situational judgment questions, a written case study and a short recorded video interview allowing Pinsent Masons to see how well you would perform in different scenarios.

03. Assessment centre

If you pass the online blended assessment, we’ll ask you to book a place at one of our in-person assessment centres. You will complete three exercises over the day – this will include a one-to-one interview, a business simulation exercise and a case study.

04. Offer

Whatever the outcome, we’ll let you know as soon as we can after the assessment centre. If you display the key attributes we are looking for and perform well throughout the assessment, we’ll send you an offer and talk you through the onboarding process.

Responsibilities

Alongside your studies, you can expect to be asked to do a wide variety of work. Some of it will be more administrative in nature, particularly in the early days of your career. Legal work will include helping to manage the documentation required in legal matters, including creating bundles of documents that will be used in court; drafting of legal documents such as contracts, settlement agreements and legal pleadings; legal research; helping to create and maintain template documents (precedents) that will be used in legal transactions; taking minutes and writing up notes for meetings or legal proceedings.

Support and development

You will be supervised by an experienced MLS (managed legal services) delivery manager and supported by your team and a dedicated early talent team. You will receive full training which will combine on-the-job learning and formal structured sessions to ensure you are fully equipped to succeed in the role. You will also have access to a wide range of courses available through our Pinsent Masons Learning and Development team, enabling you to develop your skills and build a successful career.

As part of a friendly team, you will have opportunity to enjoy an active social life – this includes sports activities, charity work and meals out. You will also have the opportunity to work and network with other apprentice paralegals.

Qualification and beyond

Upon successful completion of your paralegal apprenticeship, you could have the opportunity to apply for paralegal roles at Pinsent Masons and explore a range of future progression opportunities available within our Paralegal Centre of Excellence. Alternatively, depending on role availability and individual preference, you could also apply for our solicitor apprenticeship programme.

If you are successful in securing a Pinsent Masons solicitor apprenticeship role following completion of our paralegal apprenticeship, the duration of the solicitor apprenticeship would be shortened.

How to apply

To start your application, please click on apply now. Once you have registered an account, you will need to complete the following before the application closing date:

• Registration form
• Application form
• Online blended assessment

Once you have submitted all of the above, our recruitment team will review your application alongside your online blended assessment and will be in touch in due course regarding your outcome.