Paralegal apprenticeship Qualify as a Paralegal and earn while you learn

What is a paralegal apprenticeship?

A paralegal apprenticeship is a paid role which includes a two-year training programme and leads to qualification as paralegal upon completion. You will gain a level 3 apprenticeship award and a level 4 Certificate of Higher Education (Law and Legal Practice) awarded by BPP University alongside work experience.

You will complete your study with our partner provider, BPP University Law School, with one day each week dedicated to your off-the-job training. You will put your learning into practice straight away by spending four days per week working within one of our many legal teams. As you progress through your apprenticeship you will complete tasks which gradually increase in complexity whilst supported by a robust network.  You’ll be able to test your skills across different teams within the business by completing two placements of twelve months in duration. You will be given the opportunity to learn from legal experts whilst completing high quality work with responsibility and client exposure.

We want our future lawyers to be both technically excellent and to have the skills necessary to understand our clients' businesses and our own. Therefore, you will also complete our bespoke learning and development programme throughout the two years, which has been designed to develop your core professional and business skills.

View course outline.

Eligibility and Criteria

You will have gained, or be predicted, 96 UCAS points and hold a minimum of five GCSEs at grade four or above including Maths and English. We do not have requirements for specific subjects.

Using a contextual recruitment system, Dandi, we can identify high performing candidates who may have faced adverse impact during their secondary education. Therefore, if you have narrowly missed out on these grades, we would still encourage you to apply. We will judge each application on its own merits and so this grade criteria may be adjusted based on personal circumstances. Please contact our early careers team via email at earlycareers@weightmans.com for further information.

Our apprentice paralegals will develop the competencies listed below as they progress through the programme. These competencies are also used to help shape our early careers recruitment processes; we assess for potential in these areas, but we do not expect experience.

• Reasons and problem solves effectively with complex data and information and learns quickly.
• Plans, organises, prioritises and manages resources and time.
• IT literate.
• Has a strong commercial focus.
• Emotionally resilient, mature and positive when the going gets tough.
• Customer-centric — both internal and external.
• Flexible and adaptable.
• Demonstrates integrity.
• Is achievement-driven, shows initiative, takes responsibility with a ‘can do’
  attitude.
• Committed to continuous improvement.
• Attends to the detail and is quality minded.
• Self‐aware — knows own strengths and weaknesses.
• Demonstrates effective communication both verbally and in writing.
• Assertive and socially confident.
• Influential and persuasive.
• Team player and team builder who networks effectively.
• Diplomatic, tactful and empathic.
• Interpersonally skilled, reads people and situations and then adapts accordingly.
• Aware of and propagates a positive and professional image and persona.

Why choose Weightmans?

We want to help you nurture a career you love, providing a working life and environment you’ll not only enjoy but a place where you’ll love coming to work every day. We’ll challenge you to meet your potential and support you to achieve it. And then celebrate and reward your success.

In 2023, our commitment to the development and satisfaction of our employees was confirmed with the Top Employers Institute certification for the 17th year. The independent research highlighted our dedication to a better world of work through excellent HR policies and people practices.

We are truly committed to fostering a culture of equality and diversity, where everyone in the firm is respected and recognised on merit for the work that they do.

In our offices, we have unique and open spaces accompanied by agile working for a great work-life balance. With a focus on learning and development of our people, we are proud to have consistently high trainee solicitor retention rates.

As much as we work hard, we like to play hard too! Having an appropriate work/life balance is something we value for all our people. Our social calendar is always full, from theatre visits and quizzes to office parties. Each of our offices has an active social committee who are always looking for new members to get involved. We will encourage our graduates to keep in touch as a national cohort with training and annual events.

We pride ourselves in our CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) work and support a number of deserving charities, both nationally and local to our offices, including Zoe’s Place, Francis House, Simon on the Streets and many more. As part of our commitment, all staff receive two days of paid CSR leave each year, and each office has a local committee who are always looking for new members, and this may be something you would like to be a part of once you join us.

Salary and benefits

Our current 1st year salary is £21,840 (£23,933 in London).

As a Weightmans employee, you will also be entitled to our excellent staff benefits which include:

• 28 days' holiday
• Healthcare cover
• Pension plan
• Travel loan scheme
• Employee care scheme
• Discounted gym membership
• Dental care scheme

How to apply

Apply now

Please note that the deadline for applications is Thursday 28 November 2024 at 12noon, and we are unable to accept applications after this date.

Please note that our application window will never close early. While there is no advantage to applying early, we would just suggest that applicants do not leave applications to the last minute in case of unplanned issues that may affect submitting by the deadline (e.g. tech issues, illness and etc).

Our application process consists of 4 stages:

We welcome you to contact us if you have any queries regarding this process.

Application tips

Watch our video below where Marc Prats from our early careers team provides some hints and tips for those looking to apply for one of our early careers programmes.

Read video transcript

Welcome to Weightmans. We're a national law firm with over 1400 people and nine offices across the UK.

My name is Marc, and I work in the Early Careers department at Weightmans. We're one of the first law firms of our size in the UK to offer a new ground-breaking pathway into law.

Our apprenticeship Academy launched in 2020.

Now you can become a solicitor, gain a qualifying law degree, earn a good salary and work in one of the top UK law firms.

Our unique application process doesn't just give us the chance to review your application fairly, but it also gives you insights about the firm. There two areas where we are going to apply scoring in your application: your academics and an open question at the end of the form. Let's look at some top tips.

Do your research on the company and the role. How do you fit the brief?

We run open evenings every autumn, so come along and find out more about us.

Take your time with the responses and start early. Don't leave it until the last minute.

The application is open for at least two months, so we would advise you to consider your answers and take your time. Don't worry, the application can be saved, so you can continue it at a later date.

Don't be afraid to ask for help. Ask someone you know to read through your application and give you feedback.

The most common reasons for loss of points are punctuation, spelling, and grammar. So make sure to double check your application.

The HiPo-i has been designed for Early Career's recruitment to identify potential in our candidates.

You are usually given around a week to complete the assessment, so make sure to find a quiet space to complete it. If you pass the online assessment stage, it's time to come and talk to us at an interview. We will ensure that you are ready for the day. A member of the Early Careers team will call you to that you're prepared.

At your interview, you will meet with two people: a member of HR and the lawyer from the firm so that we can get to know you better.

We're a friendly team and want the best for you, so we'll try our best to make you feel at ease.

Once past the interview stage, you will receive an invite to our assessment day. The assessment day is held at a Weightmans office. It includes group activities and other tasks designed to see how you respond to practical challenges, for you to show us your personality, and your problem solving skills.

It is also a good chance for you to decide if Weightmans is a good fit for you.

If you're a successful applicant, the support does not stop there.

During our week long induction in Liverpool, you will learn more about the role and you'll get to meet other apprentices.

We really look forward to meeting you all at Weightmans and we want to wish you the best of luck during your application process.

If you would like more information, please contact us at earlycareers@weightmans.com.

We welcome you to contact us if you have any queries regarding this process.

Meet us to find out more

If you have any queries, please feel free to get in touch by email via earlycareers@weightmans.com and follow us on Instagram @weightmansearlycareers.

Law fairs & careers fairs (to attend, please contact the university or organisation directly):

Friday 11 October 2024 — UK University Search — Birmingham, Edgbaston Stadium

Tuesday 15 October 2024 — UK University Search Liverpool — Anfield Stadium

Wednesday 23 October 2024 — UK University Search Leeds — Elland Road

Tuesday 26 and Wednesday 27 November — National Apprenticeship Show — Exhibition Centre, Liverpool 

Opening Evenings

In person

Tuesday 24 September 2024 — Liverpool Open Evening  5 – 6.30pm

Monday 30 September 2024 — Newcastle Open Evening- 5– 6.30pm

Tuesday 1 October 2024  — Leeds Open Evening 5– 6.30pm

Thursday 3 October 2024 — Manchester Open Evening- 5– 6.30pm

Monday 7 October 2024 — Birmingham Open Evening- 5– 6.30pm)

Tuesday 8 October 2024 — London Open Evening- 5– 6.30pm

Online Open Evenings

Monday 11 November — 4– 5pm — via Zoom webinar

Wednesday 20 November — 5– 6pm — via Zoom webinar

If you are interested in attending one of the above open evenings, please complete the following link  Online Open Evening

If, once the list is published, you are unable to attend any of the events, please feel free to contact us via earlycareers@weightmans.com and we can arrange an appointment to discuss our programmes.

Legal insights programme

If you have any queries, please feel free to get in touch by email via via earlycareers@weightmans.com.