There are various options for progressing your career as a paralegal, with no “typical” career ladder.
Career paralegal
Many people have great careers as paralegals. Some firms – especially larger ones – have different levels through which paralegals can progress, with different levels potentially involving pay rises, increases in responsibility, and new job titles. For example, one of the large firms discussed has eight different paralegal tiers, whilst another enables paralegals to progress through roles including Assistant Paralegal, Paralegal, Senior Paralegal and Supervisor.
Following this route, paralegals can also progress into supervisory or management roles. This can be really valuable experience - in fact, my first supervisor during my training contract – who was then a senior associate - had previously been a paralegal manager! Apparently in limited circumstances, paralegals can even become partners of law firms.
Paralegals can also set up their own businesses, directly offering paralegal services to clients. As legal services from solicitors continue to increase in price, and access to legal aid continues to reduce, paralegals may well have increasing opportunities to build their own practices on the basis of offering more affordable rates.
Qualification via SQE and QWE
Alternatively, a paralegal could complete the Solicitors Qualifying Exam, and – provided they have completed enough paralegal work to fulfil the SQE qualifying work experience criteria – qualify as a solicitor, without actually completing a formal training contract. This can work well for firms that lack the resources to implement a structured training contract but want to retain great paralegals who are looking to qualify.
Note that qualifying work experience can be completed across up to four different firms, so a collection of paralegal roles could help you to reach the required two years. You just need to ensure that you secure a sufficiently broad range of experience to satisfy the requirements needed for qualifying work experience to be formally signed off and recognised. This is key to keep in mind if you end up stuck for months on end doing the same type of work.
An an important side note, don’t assume that qualifying as a solicitor means you’ll easily secure a job as a qualified solicitor. Where a qualification job isn’t on offer at the same firm, your ability to work as an NQ (meaning “newly qualified solicitor”) will depend on a firm’s willingness to trust the quality of the paralegal experience enough to hire you as an NQ (a role which often commands much higher pay and much more responsibility). And this is by no means guaranteed.
Qualification via a training contract
Alternatively, a paralegal could leverage their experience to secure a formal training contract – either at their current firm, or another firm - then follow the structured path of completing the SQE and the 2-year training contract. Once qualified, they would then progress up the associate ladder, before deciding whether to pursue partnership (or move in-house).
Paralegal experience can help you to secure a training contract, through:
Note that law firms – especially larger firms - often want you to complete their two-year training contracts before they’ll recognise you as an NQ, even if you’ve accumulated enough paralegal experience to satisfy the SRA’s qualifying work experience requirements (although some may be willing to shorten the period of your training contract).
CILEX
The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives offers an alternative route to qualification, which doesn’t require candidates to pass the SQE. CILEX lawyers specialise in a particular area of law from the outset, building expertise through working, whilst studying at the same time. On completion they receive authorisation in their chosen area of legal practice. Note that this doesn’t qualify you as a “solicitor” however; instead, you would be a “Chartered Legal Executive”.
Note that you could potentially use your CILEX-related work experience to fulfil the SRA’s qualifying work experience requirements if you later decide to take the SQE with a view to qualifying as a solicitor.
Graduate solicitor apprenticeships
Some firms instead choose to progress paralegals through the graduate solicitor apprenticeship route, which ultimately leads to qualification as a solicitor. This can be beneficial for the firm, as they don’t have to pay trainee/associate-level salaries, and great for solicitor apprentices, who are still able to earn whilst studying and building experience.
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