How do you land your first paralegal job?

Nov 12, 2022

Written By Isabella Rzym

Given the competitive nature of the legal sector, securing your first paralegal job is no small feat. This article will explore the avenues for landing your first paralegal job, discussing how you can gain these experiences at university, online, and through legal and non-legal work experience.

What experience can you gain at university or after school to help you land your first paralegal job?

Depending on whether you went to university or not, there are different ways you can start gaining knowledge and relevant experience which can help you land your first paralegal job.

If you are at university, whether you are reading a law or non-law degree, you can demonstrate business awareness, legal knowledge, and a keenness to work in this industry through numerous routes. As a starting point, if you can join your university’s law society and attend talks and networking events then this is a key way of learning about the legal sector.

Following this, you can apply to participate in insight days that law firms routinely offer. Ordinarily, you have to either fill in an application form and answer various questions, or provide the law firm with your CV and cover letter. As these are competitive to get into, speaking to your university careers centre and networking through your university law society or via LinkedIn may be useful so that you can perfect and polish your CV and cover letter.

If you have not attended university, then there are plenty of other training paths an individual can follow to become a paralegal. As there are no specific entry requirements to becoming a paralegal in the United Kingdom, a university degree is not a prerequisite.

Individuals without a university degree can also pursue a paralegal career through an apprenticeship, which means school and college students can seek paralegal training without completing a university degree, or can undertake training while working.

One option is to do some free virtual work experiences or online courses, such as with Forage, so you can gain some insight into working at a law firm and can then tailor any applications specifically to the law firm you have done virtual work experience with.

How can legal work experience help you land your first paralegal job?

Alongside demonstrating a keen interest in working as a paralegal through university societies or virtual work experiences, an integral part of what an employer may look for when employing a paralegal is tangible work experience.

Whereas free virtual work experiences or online courses are typically around 9 hours, at least 6 months’ prior legal work experience can show a potential employer that you have clear commercial awareness and legal knowledge gained through legal work.

Legal internships at companies (these do not have to be law firms) are perhaps the most obvious example of work experience, however these are often highly competitive and there are limited spaces available, making them often inaccessible and difficult to secure.

A good way to get legal work experience, while giving back to your community and improving the lives of individuals, is by volunteering. Organisations such as Citizens Advice, The Prisoners’ Advice Service, Shelter, university law clinics, and local law centres may offer such opportunities. This voluntary work is typically legally-orientated and provide excellent insight into legal work.

As a Volunteer Adviser at Citizens Advice for a year, I cannot recommend voluntary work enough. Amongst other things, it provides you with real-world insight into issues that affect individuals, develops critical thinking, and involves communicating legally-dense information clearly and concisely to clients. Indeed, these skills are useful in any legal role.

Another option is to look at local high-street solicitors and ask to volunteer there in an administrative, assistant, or secretarial capacity. This provides you with valuable experience working in a legal environment with solicitors and clients.

How can you land your first paralegal job without legal work experience?

It is often intimidating seeking a career in a new sector, let alone such a competitive sector as law, without specific work experience in this field. There are multiple reasons why individuals may not have legal work experience, for example: Covid-19 halting voluntary initiatives and opportunities, career changes, and financial circumstances making unpaid legal work unviable.

However, it is definitely possible to land an entry-level paralegal job without legal work experience. Indeed, the title ‘entry-level’ is indicative of legal experience not being a prerequisite to the role.

If you have just graduated university and have held other jobs, such as administrative or other customer-facing roles, you can tap into the kinds of responsibilities these roles entailed. Many skills involved in these roles, such as communication, research, organisation, and critical thinking, are highly transferable to the role of a paralegal.

Similarly, career changers can draw off their multitude of experiences gained in previous sectors, using this as their “unique selling point” to a prospective employer.

The key takeaways

There is no “one size fits all” approach to becoming a paralegal and individuals from all backgrounds who wish to embark on a career as a paralegal should not feel overly intimidated by the prospect.

There are plenty of avenues to landing your first job as a paralegal and not only will these suggestions hopefully help you secure a paralegal job, more importantly they will give you an insight into the role and responsibilities a paralegal may have. This means that you can learn more about this field and decide if this career path is right for you.

Becoming a Lawyer