Life at Hugh James 

We never shy away from a challenge

We are a leading, full-service UK law firm. Since our beginning, we have been led by the things that matter. We care about fighting for the right outcomes. Solving the seemingly unsolvable. Protecting businesses, individuals and livelihoods. Supporting our people, our communities. Safeguarding our planet. Looking for a way forward? At Hugh James, challenges – of all sizes – are readily accepted.

The Hugh James difference

Our law firm has always been guided by the idea that self-belief is just as important as skillset. Our pursuit of righting wrongs and protecting what’s important keeps us driving forwards. It’s in our roots! We won’t stop until we find the answers; the outcomes that are needed.

We are focused on the work we do, the business we run, and our culture. Our entrepreneurial spirit has taken us from humble beginnings to a strong presence across the UK with offices in Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton and Plymouth – servicing clients from businesses, individuals and banks to public sector organisations, property companies, education establishments and utilities providers. Our collegiate culture, our forward-looking ethos, our values serve to make us bigger, better, bolder than ever before.

A positive force in the community

Our work with charities on a local and national level plays a huge part in our day-to-day lives. We work with a large range of charities, some of which we support through fundraising, donations, volunteering and others we partner with where our areas of work cross paths. Staff, clients everyone comes together through a shared passion to do good in the community and support those in need.

We look for highly motivated individuals with an excellent academic record, common sense, good communication skills and commercial awareness.

But it’s not all about education. We work in a friendly environment and like our staff to feel at ease with our culture so we value social skills and a good sense of humour.

Because of the commitment to offering some of the best training available, we generally recruit two years in advance. Our overriding objective is to retain our trainees as solicitors and we are proud to say that many of our present partners were trained at the firm and are now leaders in their field.

Our trainees work alongside our current solicitors in up to four different seats, each lasting six months, across a variety of practice areas.

When selecting seats for our trainees, we always consider individual preferences as well as business needs. Some training contracts will follow divisional lines and remain in either our business or individual services division for the duration of the training contract.

We also offer trainee secondment opportunities with some of our corporate and business clients. 

Generally, we ensure that newly qualified posts are advertised and allocated prior to the second year trainees’ final seat transfer in March of each year. This means that the successful applicants will spend the final six months of their training contracts in the role that they will have when they qualify.

There is an established career path for our solicitors to advance to associates, senior associates and finally become partners or legal directors of the firm. Each role has a clearly defined competency framework to enable you to decide whether applying for promotion would be the right decision for you at any given time. 

Our summer placement schemes are an integral part of our recruitment process and provide our external route to securing a training contract with Hugh James. The scheme offers valuable insight into life as a trainee solicitor, with the opportunity to experience a variety of departments across the firm.

The schemes run between June and August each year, with initial interviews taking place in May.

During your placement, you will have your own mentor, usually a current trainee solicitor, who will be your go-to person throughout the week. Wherever possible, you will be immersed in the day-to-day work of our teams, which may include attending court, client meetings and other practical experiences.

You can usually expect to spend time across a number of different departments, giving you a broad understanding of life as a trainee solicitor at Hugh James.

Following successful completion of the summer placement scheme, you will be invited to interview for a training contract with us.

During your training contract, you will have a dedicated supervisor and regular reviews to ensure you are getting the most from your training. You will work alongside our solicitors and have the opportunity to complete up to four different seats across a variety of the firm’s practice areas.

Trainee solicitors at Hugh James receive excellent legal training from experts in their fields. We recognise, however, that becoming a great solicitor goes beyond technical legal knowledge. Training contract plus gives our trainees the opportunity to develop wider skills including client interaction, business development, financial management, commercial awareness and more. The programme is led by the firm’s training principal and partner, Matthew Evans, and forms part of our wider career development programme, Hugh James Potential.

We welcome applications from candidates of all ages and backgrounds, including both law and non-law graduates.

For our trainee solicitors, we support both routes to qualification currently available. For those following the SQE route, the firm provides funding towards the SQE2 preparation course and examination fees.

At Hugh James, we are committed to creating a workplace where everyone has the opportunity to develop, progress and be themselves. We are an equal opportunities and Disability Confident committed employer, and we regularly monitor the diversity of our workforce to help inform our approach.

Our employee-led networks provide opportunities for colleagues to connect, share experiences and help shape an inclusive workplace. These include networks and initiatives focused on ethnicity, faith and culture, LGBTQ+, gender balance, neurodiversity and disability, as well as support for parents, carers and colleagues experiencing menopause.

Equality, diversity and inclusion also forms part of our wider People & Planet responsible business programme, helping us to continually review how we can create a fair and inclusive workplace for our people.

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