Paralegals

Current paralegal opportunities can be found on the LawCareers.Net Jobs page.

For law graduates who don’t want to qualify as a solicitor or barrister, a career as a professional paralegal is a great alternative.

Paralegal options exist in both the regulated and unregulated sectors, in the public and private sectors and in-house legal departments.

Use the links below to move through the article.

Paralegals in the regulated sector
Paralegals in the unregulated sector
In-house paralegals
What's a paralegal?
What qualifications do I need to be a paralegal?

Paralegals in the regulated sector

In the regulated sector, paralegals work primarily for solicitors, barristers, trademark attorneys, costs lawyers and licensed conveyancers. In this sector, working as a paralegal isn’t regarded as the same as being a qualified lawyer, and this is especially true in many solicitors’ firms.

Historically, paralegals were to solicitors what skilled nurses were to doctors. However, the huge growth in the number of paralegals employed has meant that evermore complex work is delegated to paralegals and many run their own files and have their own clients, and some even run departments.

Obviously, in the statutorily regulated sector, the various professional groups are structured around solicitors, barristers, CILEX Lawyers and licenced conveyancers. Paralegals who are members of a recognised membership body, like the National Association of Licenced Paralegals (NALP), are voluntarily regulated by their membership body. Therefore, anyone who hasn’t qualified in one of these professions, may not receive the same quality of work, compensation or career opportunity. This isn’t necessarily so for one part of the regulated profession: alternative business structures (ABS). There are now hundreds of ABS law businesses, and in many of them what counts most is your skill, ability and attitude; professional titles (or lack thereof) are secondary. As a paralegal in an ABS business, you’d be eligible to become a partner/director. 

Paralegals in the unregulated sector

Beyond the regulated legal sector lies the unregulated sector. Most legal work isn’t deemed reserved activity work, which means anyone can do it. As a result, the unregulated sector is already large and continues to grow at a very fast rate. Over a decade of determined legal deregulation by government has encouraged the growth of around 6,000 paralegal law firms (ie, commercial organisations offering legal services without solicitor/barrister involvement). Compare that explosive growth to the four-and-a-half centuries it’s taken for there to be around 9,000 solicitors’ firms (as of November 2025).

Unregulated firms cover an extremely wide range of practice areas: will writing; uncontested divorce; criminal law; general business advice; debt recovery; construction disputes; and mediation, plus more. The unregulated sector is still in its infancy and so ‘paralegal law firms’ tend to be relatively small. They do, however, offer paralegals the opportunity to become senior practitioners/owners.

In-house paralegals

A third area where paralegals are employed in significant numbers is with in-house legal departments in local government, finance, industry and commerce. As with solicitors’ firms, cost pressures are leading employers to increase their use of paralegals.

What’s a paralegal?

A 'paralegal' is an individual who’s trained and educated to perform certain legal tasks, but who isn’t a solicitor, barrister, CILEX Lawyer or licenced conveyancer.

Most paralegals will specialise in an area of law and can get involved in legal research, drafting, interviewing clients and organising case files, for example. The paralegal sector is continuing to grow and there are now recognised pathways that lead to a professional career as a paralegal (more on that below).

These days, the demand for access to justice at a reasonable cost has grown since there’s virtually no legal funding for the average person. The need for paralegal services is therefore growing exponentially, aided by the fact that the fees charged by paralegals are far less than those of solicitors and barristers.

Paralegals aren’t regulated in the same way as solicitors and barristers, meaning there isn’t one organisation that regulates how they’re qualified and monitors their conduct. Anyone can refer to themselves as a ‘paralegal’, without any professional paralegal qualifications or experience. This is where NALP comes in. NALP is the UK’s longest-running professional paralegal body, which provides recognised and accredited paralegal qualifications, regulated by Ofqual. Ofqual-regulated qualifications are ones that have been checked and verified as fit for purpose, which means they’re well regarded and are an excellent choice for anyone looking to gain a paralegal qualification.

NALP also offers a number of membership options to any person who performs legal work and encourages members wanting to practise to secure a NALP Licence to Practise (“subject to eligibility, insurance requirements and competency”). This is especially important if you intend to work for yourself offering legal services and advice to your own clients. Having recognised qualifications, being licenced and a member of a recognised body will give your clients confidence in the work you do.

What qualifications do I need to be a paralegal?

These days, there are bespoke nationally recognised paralegal qualifications available for an individual who’s not interested in gaining a law degree at university. (See the Ofqual recognised qualifications offered by NALP). There’s even a Level 7 Diploma in Paralegal Practice qualification for those who’ve already gained a law degree but wish to move into the paralegal profession, as well as a new Level 5 Diploma for Senior Associate Paralegals for those who’ve studied NALP Level 4 or the first year of a law degree at university.

‘What’s the right paralegal qualification for you?’ – read NALP’s advice in this LCN Says.

Alternatively, you can become a paralegal straight out of school via a paralegal apprenticeship.

So, to sum up, if you have a degree but don’t wish to pursue a career as a solicitor, barrister or CILEX Lawyer, becoming a paralegal is just as rewarding. The role of the paralegal is becoming more recognised and more significant. For graduates, it’s the obvious alternative if they can’t, or don’t want to, go on to complete the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) or Bar course and a great way to get the kind of experience that employers value, especially if becoming a solicitor or barrister remains the ultimate goal.

Find out more about paralegal apprenticeships and the progression opportunities via LawCareers.Net’s Apprenticeships hub.

Chantal Cooke, chief executive of NALP, confirms that paralegal experience and/or recognised qualifications are an excellent way to show that you’re aware of the law, practice and procedure, and can therefore become a valuable part of a firm. The experience can also go towards the two years' qualifying work experience necessary to qualify as a solicitor via the SQE route.

For more information, visit NALP.