Graduate & Trainee | Hugh James

We're the perfect place for you to start your career in law

We are the perfect place for you to start your career in law, with training opportunities for graduates and those who are still studying. 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 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.

Training opportunities

Our training contract opportunities are for those of you who are looking to become solicitors.

As a full service firm, you will have the opportunity to work alongside our current solicitors in up to four different seats, each lasting six months, across a variety of practice areas. These will be within our business services and individual clients divisions, in teams such as banking, employment, clinical negligence and personal injury. Or even one of our specialist areas such as military and nursing care. We feel that this is the best way for you to understand which area of law you eventually want to qualify in to.

During your training contract, you will have a dedicated supervisor and regular appraisals to make sure you’re getting the most from your training.

graduate smiling in a Hugh James training session surrounded by peers

a graduate trainee listens to a Hugh James training presentation

Two female graduate trainees at Hugh James

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.

If you wanted to know what it is like to work for Hugh James, our annual open day could be the insight you have been looking for.

a group of trainees from our summer placement scheme gathered in the vista lounge of Hugh James' 2 Central Square Cardiff office

Summer placement scheme & training contract

If you are at least a second year undergraduate student or have completed your studies, you can apply for our Summer Placement Scheme. The scheme is an integral part of our recruitment process and is our preferred route to a training contract with us. This experience provides insight into the life of a trainee at Hugh James.

You will benefit from your own mentor, usually a current trainee solicitor, so you’ll have a go-to person for any of your queries. We will immerse you in the day-to-day life of our teams which can involve attending court and client interviews.

During your time with us, you can usually expect to spend time in a few different departments to fully experience life as a Hugh James trainee solicitor.

At the end of your placement, you will be invited to interview for a training contract with us.

Apply now

Solicitor’s Qualification Examination

The Solicitor’s Qualification Examination (SQE) offers an alternative to the traditional way of qualifying as a solicitor. We support this route to qualification as part our long-established solicitor training programme. Read about our approach to supporting lawyers at different stages of their career below.

Potential trainee solicitors

For our trainee solicitors we support both routes to qualification currently available. For those pursuing the SQE route, funding will be available for the SQE 2 training course and exam. Those undertaking a Hugh James training contract will complete a two-year contract, irrespective of any previous qualifying work experience.

The advantages of becoming a Hugh James trainee are:

Two years of structured training across a breadth of disciplines.
Guaranteed exposure to all the competencies needed, enabling candidates to be better equipped for the SQE stage 2.
Payment of the SQE stage 2 exam and training course.
A guaranteed solicitor role after the two years (subject to satisfactory performance and passing the SQE2 exam).

Future paralegals

Our paralegal roles can be used as qualifying work experience, as the role allow individuals to develop some of the competencies needed to be a solicitor.

Previously employed paralegals who need to sign off their experience at Hugh James

For those previously employed by Hugh James in a paralegal role, this time can be used as qualifying work experience, as it would have allowed them to develop some of the competencies needed to be a solicitor, and we will sign off this experience.

Sign off for qualifying work experience should be requested via your MySRA account, the contact is our training principal, Matthew Evans, Partner. Matthew’s SRA number is 315481.

If you require such sign off, please get in touch with HR

Email HRinfo

Trainee insight

There are many questions we are regularly asked about our graduate options, but we think it’s best coming from the people who have experienced it first-hand. Solicitor, Louis Edmunds, a trainee solicitor, answers your FAQs.

First and foremost, I chose to start my legal career at Hugh James because of the firm’s culture. Being able to work with people who are experts in their chosen fields and who are not only friendly and approachable but also incredibly supportive, seemed like a no brainer to me. No matter the level of seniority, you do really feel like everyone is there to support you and help you become the best solicitor possible.

Hugh James is a leading, full-service UK law firm acting for many illustrious clients, and so I knew I would be exposed to high quality work from the outset of my Training contract. Trainees get ‘stuck-in’ to the work from day one and receive incredible support from their assigned supervisors as well as any additional lawyers who have delegated them work.

Trainees at Hugh James experience four seats, each lasting 6 months during their Training Contract. As Hugh James is a full-service law firm, trainees experience a broad range of seat options and become exposed to a large variety of work across several departments.

Trainees will undertake seats in both contentious and non-contentious departments, ranging from working on corporate and M&A work to group action professional negligence claims. A few weeks before starting your training contract – and a few weeks before the end of each seat – you will submit your seat preferences to HR, who are excellent at considering everyone’s choices and try to accommodate everyone’s seat preferences.

Trainees receive excellent supervision and support throughout their training contract. First-year trainees receive a ‘buddy’, a second-year trainee who is there to answer any questions you may have, especially during the first couple of weeks. You will also be allocated a supervisor during each seat, who will be your main port of call for any legal queries you may have. However, there will also be additional lawyers in your team who will be more than willing to answer any questions you may have.

During each seat, trainees will have both an interim and an end-of-seat appraisal with their supervisor. The purpose is to review your overall performance, assess the development of your skills, identify areas of strength and weakness, agree new objectives and plan future training. The appraisals are a two-way conversation, and it is a process whereby both the trainee and supervisor work together to maximise the learning experience for the trainee.

Hugh James also recognises the importance of training and preparing trainees for their future roles as solicitors and has launched Training Contract Plus which specifically focuses on trainee development as part of the overarching Hugh James Potential scheme.

For example, the sessions I have received this year have involved learning how to develop your own personal brand, how to network and how to deal with personal development and change.

Trainees at Hugh James experience how great the social life is from outset. On my first day I had lunch with second-year trainees and drinks with Partners at the end of the day.

Every department has its own social calendar with a number of events planned throughout the year, such as team building days, team socials as well as team charity days. The firm also has its own summer and Christmas parties, which are a great opportunity for people in different teams to meet.

Professional placement year

We currently offer year in industry placements to students undertaking a law degree with one of our partner universities.

The application process is completed through your university during your second year of study and if successful you will join Hugh James for a year long placement during your third year.

Talking about the professional placement year, Abigail Russell, Trainee Solicitor said:

“The Professional Placement Year offers an invaluable opportunity to bridge the gap between academic studies and practical experience, solidifying my decision to become a solicitor.”

Grace Cadger, Trainee Solicitor said:

“The Professional Placement Year was a key opportunity to accomplish this goal and gain practical experience in the legal world. Little did I know that I would work throughout my undergraduate degree, alongside my post graduate degree and full time during my master’s which was no mean feat! A professional placement quickly teaches you that learning the law and practising it are two very different things.”

A day in the life of a HJ trainee

Louis Edmunds explains what a typical day as a trainee might entail.

Currently I am a trainee in the Financial Mis-Selling team, and I am heavily involved in various professional negligence group action claims that the team are currently running. No day is ever the same as a trainee and each day various on what seat you are currently in, but I have tried to give a quick insight into my current daily routine.

Read about trainee life at Hugh James

It’s not all work

With social, charity and professional events throughout the year, there is more to working at Hugh James than just the day job.

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 know our people are passionate about making an impact in the community. We give each of our employees two paid days per year to do something important to get involved in projects that make a positive difference in their communities with bona fide charitable organisations. We also seek out partnership opportunities to support our employee’s wellbeing, taking care of their physical and mental health.

Responsible business

We’ve launched a corporate work programme to take a take fresh look at our approach to being a responsible business – to see if we can be even better, for the long term. It’s split into two workstreams: People & Planet. The People workstream looks at our approach to equality, diversity and inclusion. The Planet workstream looks at our approach to sustainability and the environment.

Employee-led networks

Join events and discussions to continuously improve our fair and inclusive workplace with our communities focused on ethnicity, faith and culture; LGBTQ+; gender balance and neurodiversity and disability matters. You can grab a cuppa and a chat with our Parent Support and Carers network and Menopause Champions.

Wellbeing

Access our mental health support network, which is championed by seventeen accredited Mental Health First Aiders based across our offices. You’ll also have access to our Employee Assistance Programme.