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Our Resolve. Your Resolution.

Early Careers and training contracts

We provide early career opportunities across our business, whether to train as a solicitor or legal executive, gain paralegal experience or develop a role within one of our support functions.

As and when we recruit for early career roles, details can be found on our job opportunities page.

What we can offer you as a trainee solicitor

As you may be aware the qualification pathways for trainee solicitors are changing. We have already finalised our recruitment pool for our Autumn 2024 and Spring 2025 cohorts and, when we are looking to recruit for our Autumn 2025 cohort, we will provide details of our qualification pathways at that time (early 2025).

We adopt the same overall approach to training our solicitors, irrespective of qualification pathway.

The nature of our business means we can offer you variety – of work type, client profile, office location and team structure. Unlike many firms, we are also keen to offer early responsibility, suitably supported, so that you can show your potential and give you a more informed understanding of how best to develop your future career.

With established private client, family law and residential conveyancing departments, we can offer experience of working alongside specialists advising on often on complex, high value matters. Our commercial and commercial property teams serve both local owner managed businesses and larger corporates.

Unusually, compared with many equivalent practices, there is also a strong emphasis on litigation. This explains the development of our specialist commercial litigation, clinical negligence and personal injury claimant teams which punch above their weight, given the overall size of the firm, and which attract clients beyond Yorkshire.

At the beginning of their Harrowells journey as trainee solicitors: Sophie Crane, Daniel Burton, Amy Saunders and George Sellers.

Role of a Trainee

As a trainee you will gain experience in both contentious and non-contentious law and will have the opportunity to gain experience in some of the following departments:

  • Commercial Property
  • Commercial
  • Litigation and Dispute Resolution
  • Personal Injury
  • Family
  • Private Client
  • Residential Conveyancing

For each seat you will receive a detailed training programme which identifies the learning requirements for that area of law.  You will be allocated a Supervisor who will monitor your work closely throughout giving regular informal and formal feedback to enable you to develop your skills and knowledge ensuring you cover the various relevant areas of law identified in the programme.

As a trainee you will be challenged from day one but always supported by your Supervisor and your buddy and you will be given the opportunity to deal with hands-on client work from the outset. You will have regular meetings with your supervisor where you will both review your progress and ensure that you are achieving your objectives and developing at an appropriate pace.

You are also encouraged to become involved in business development which will include representing Harrowells externally under the guidance of our Head of Business Development and Marketing.

Benefits

  • Competitive salary with regular pay increases to reflect increased knowledge and experience
  • 25 days’ holiday plus all UK Bank holidays
  • Life Assurance x 2 (after qualifying period)
  • Westfield Health Plan
  • Contributory pension scheme (after qualifying period)
  • Cycle to work scheme
  • Wellbeing scheme

Spreading the word: Sophie and Daniel at a recent university career fair

What we are looking for in a trainee

We are seeking to recruit trainees who wish to have a long term career at Harrowells. The starting point will be as a trainee solicitor and, following qualification, the aim is to develop and progress through our career and development structure to join our current senior solicitors, associates and partners, a number of whom began their legal careers with us.

With over 120 staff, Harrowells is the size where every employee’s contribution is visible, valuable and has a tangible impact on the performance of the business.  This means we take our recruitment and development of staff very seriously.  We believe that the more open we are to recruiting and promoting individuals from a wider range of backgrounds, the more likely we are to find and retain staff who add long term value to our business. We aim for our workforce to be truly representative of all sections of society and for each employee to feel respected and able to perform to the best of their abilities.

As a Legal 500 recommended law firm, we believe that providing quality legal advice that is valued and delivered profitability is achieved by more than just ‘technical’ knowledge.  We therefore look for individuals who have the potential to develop rapport with a wide range of clients, colleagues and other professionals. We also value applicants who show commercial awareness when giving advice and are able to organise their own work and time.

Therefore as well as having good academic qualifications, we are looking for applicants who can demonstrate they:

  • Are commercially aware
  • Have the ability to adapt well to new situations and working styles
  • Show initiative and resourcefulness
  • Are excellent team players
  • Have excellent communication skills with the ability to adapt them to any audience
  • Are self-motivated and stand out from the crowd
  • Have the desire to continue developing their skills and broadening their knowledge and expertise

Applications for 2024 have now closed - please check back on our website early next year for information on our Autumn 2025 intake.