Explore: Legal

Legal Executive
Farrer & Co

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Carole H

00:00:03 I’m Carole H and I’m a Legal Executive at a firm of solicitors in London. A Legal Executive is the same as a Solicitor, so you’re a qualified lawyer, but you actually work in one area of specialism, whereas a Solicitor trains in all areas, and then specialises at the end of their training contract. I do it right at the beginning. So I feel quite comfortable in – in my area of Law. I specialise in private client law, which is for individuals, so not for big corporate organisations. You can range from doing Trust work, to probate work, making wills for what happens to their Estate after they’ve died, so that sort of thing.

00:00:50 When I was at school I never really knew what I wanted to do. I think when I was around 14, 15, if I had the opportunity to have stayed on at my school to do A-Levels I would have done that, but my school didn’t – didn’t have a Sixth Form, so I couldn’t do that. I wasn’t sure at that time what I wanted to do, but I’d had a very good History teacher who – we used to act out certain events like the election, there was a role-playing kind of lessons, which we enjoyed. And I was always interested in the legal side, but I was thinking of going into banks – banking area.

00:01:35 And I did some work experience actually in a bank, and also in a law firm, and I did enjoy the work I did in the law firm. But I didn’t really want to go to University – or it wasn’t really an option for me at the time. But when I was actually started working, I found there was another way than the conventional going to University and, you know, receiving a training contract. I could do – I could actually do it while working, studying the legal area and becoming a lawyer that way. So, for me, it worked.

00:02:05 The work experience did make me decide to go on to do Legal Secretary’s Certificate was – it’s probably the key point. And then obviously I started working, when I qualified, in the Magistrates’ Court, which was really interesting, as a Court Clerk Assistant. I was interested and quite excited by some of the cases. I must admit there was one individual that come up, and half-way through the case he decided to try to run for it. Jumped over the actual box and tried to run out of court, which I only thought people in films did, I didn’t think anyone in reality would do that. So that was quite an interesting day. He did get out of the room, but he was chased along the corridor. And brought back.

00:02:54 I went to some Agencies when I first come up to London, and there was obviously a few jobs that were around at the time. And I went for a few interviews. And I come to the current firm I’m in and I felt – it felt like I fitted in, I enjoyed it, so – and they offered met the job straightaway and I started.

00:03:20 I think the work I’m doing now is really exciting. It’s more the high profile clients we’re dealing with. You know, people that you would see in the papers every day, so that is an exciting part of the job. Probably in five to ten years’ time, I would hope I’m doing more of the same, building my knowledge, and feel that I can do things more on my own without being – having to go to the Partner and saying – is this right? Feel that – be more confident in my abilities.

00:03:45 ENDS

Carole H is a Legal Executive at Farrer & Co in London. She specialises in private client law and says, “I think the work I’m doing now is really exciting. It’s more the high profile clients we’re dealing with. You know, people that you would see in the papers every day, so that is an exciting part of the job”.

More information about Legal professionals n.e.c.

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£87,880
average salary

The UK average salary is £29,813

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33
average weekly hours

There are 37.5 hours in the average working week

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46%  male 
54%  female 

The UK workforce is 47% female and 53% male

Future employment

Future employment?

Description
? Job holders in this unit group perform a variety of other professional legal occupations not elsewhere classified in MINOR GROUP 241: Legal Professionals.
Qualifications
Entry to training usually requires a qualifying law degree or postgraduate diploma. Entrants then undertake a further year of academic training and then complete up to four years of assessed supervised experience in legal practice. Entrants may also require up to five years post qualifying experience in legal practice.
Tasks
  • Co-ordinates the activities of magistrates courts and advises magistrates on law and legal procedure;
  • Provides legal advice to individuals within Citizens Advice, Law Centres and other such establishments;
  • Drafts and negotiates contracts on behalf of employers;
  • Advises employers, local and national government and other organisations on aspects of law and legislative implications of decisions made;
  • Represents public and private organisations in court as necessary.
Employment by region
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Top 10 industries for this job
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Legal & accounting 24254
Head offices, etc 10085
Public admin. & defence 9674
Auxiliary  services 3772
Financial services 3173
Retail trade 2984
Postal, etc 1901
Membership organisations 1649
Computer programming, etc 1390
Office admin. 1101
Employment status
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