The short answer is, yes you can. And there is lots of potential and growth in this area too.
Many consumers and businesses need legal help but may not be able to afford the fees of a solicitor, which vary from £200 to £600 per hour. This is beyond the reach of most people, which is why more and more large businesses and legal practices are employing paralegals in their teams. Paralegals can be highly qualified and can do almost the same work as solicitors, but at a much more affordable rate. This makes it a growth area with lots of potential for qualified, competent people.
Qualifying as a solicitor or barrister (the conventional routes into the legal profession) can be quite onerous, not only from the financial perspective but also the time it takes.
To qualify as a solicitor, you should plan on it taking five to six years and you need to be prepared to spend just under £15k if you don’t already have a law degree. These figures include the Solicitors Qualifying Examinations (SQE) preparation courses of just under 10k, and the SQE examination fees of just under £5k. The cost increases if you undertake a law degree which is on average around £27k for three years and then opt to complete the Legal Practice Course which can be anywhere between about £8k to £18k depending on which institution offers it.
It is similar story if you wish to qualify as a barrister: a law degree (£27k) plus the Bar Professional Training Course (£15k – £19k).
Therefore, if you are interested in working in law and you have limited finances and perhaps the time factor is important (maybe because you are a career changer), then what other options are available?
The most popular option is to qualify as a paralegal for which you do not necessarily need to gain a law degree (although if you have done so, there is a paralegal qualification for graduates). The qualifications are offered by NALP which is the only Ofqual Awarding Organisation specialising in bespoke paralegal qualifications. All qualifications are at a reasonable cost (less than £2k) and can be completed within two years.
Studying can be done full time, or part time to fit around your other commitments, and Centres (across the country, and abroad) offer courses with classroom, blended and remote learning options.
The benefit of achieving a NALP qualification is that once you have gained sufficient experience, you can, subject to eligibility, gain a Licence to Practise and offer legal services in your chosen specialist area(s) direct to consumers. In other words, you can set up your own private paralegal practice. At this level, a paralegal can offer similar services to that of a solicitor with the exception being the ‘Reserved Legal Activities’ as defined by Section12 of The Legal Services Act 2007. The reserved activities are solely the monopoly of solicitors and include the ‘right of audience’ i.e. the ability to advocate on behalf of your client in court, and ‘conducting litigation’ i.e. the ability to serve and receive court documents and correspondence on behalf of your client.
Aside from qualifications there are other methods of gaining entry to the law sector. For example, as an apprentice. Currently, there is a Level 3 Paralegal Apprentice Scheme which means that you learn while working, and your studies will be sponsored by your employer. There will be a Level 5 Paralegal Apprentice scheme coming soon which may be suitable for more mature apprentices.
Applying for a legal internship may also be an option but most organisations will require you to have a law degree or equivalent legal qualification. Internships give you an opportunity to gain experience within a legal framework (law firm or in-house legal department) for anything up to about a year. For example, legal reform charity Justice has a well-established internship programme.
Another option is volunteering for a charity. This is especially useful if you wish to gain experience within a particular charitable sector – and that sector does not have to be law. It could be environmental, animal advocacy, immigration, criminal justice, housing etc.
This is worth remembering as legal experience or legal job roles do not have to be gained solely within a law firm or in the legal sector. Most companies and organisations have legal departments or at least an element of legality to what they do on a daily basis, whether it be in HR dealing with employment contracts or matters, or whether it be drafting or checking commercial contracts. This means that there is a broad spectrum of potential employers in a wide range of sectors that require specialist legal skills, some of which will also be willing to train you to deal with their own specialist legal requirements. NALP has paralegal members working in a range of sectors including Premiership football clubs, oil companies, the Ministry of Defence, fashion houses, car manufacturers, local councils and the police.
With thousands of paralegal jobs advertised each year there are lots of opportunities. For example, Totally Legal advertised around 3000 paralegal jobs in the last 12 months.
Then there is a raft of other legal jobs to consider too, none of which require you to train and qualify as a solicitor. You can do them all as a paralegal. These include working as a court administrator, insurance claims handler, mediator and caseworker for the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service), or as a Costs Lawyer. The list of potential legal roles and employers is vast.
Many paralegals also go on to set up their own legal practices (you will need a License to Practice) or progress all the way to partner in existing law firms. Paralegal doesn’t mean ‘stuck at one level’ – your career can take you all the way, as far as you wish to go.
In conclusion, there are lots of different ways to work in the law, and you don’t necessarily have to spend tens of thousands, or many years of your time, gaining a qualification as a solicitor. A paralegal qualification will be under £2k and can take around a year (depending on the level). And with so many organisations, in a variety of sectors needing employees with legal knowledge, it really is a question of choosing a sector in which you believe you can make a difference.
