Contentious Probate Graduate Solicitor Apprentice – Bristol City Centre

Location and working hours

• Full-time (office hours are 9:00am – 5:15pm, Monday to Friday)
• The role is based at our Bristol city centre office.

Salary: £22,620 per annum.

This is an exciting opportunity to join our growing and successful Dispute Resolution department based in our city centre office.

This role is within the Contentious Probate team and the work requires any successful candidate to be engaged in both opposed and unopposed applications. These matters will provide candidates with the opportunity to work alongside other departments and teams, including Debt Recovery, Family, Court of Protection, Property Litigation, and Probate + Estate Administration. The successful candidate will be supervised directly by Senior Associate, Mark Scanlon, with overall supervision provided by the Head of Department, James Bell. Candidates will assist with existing cases within the team.

You will undertake legal work and contribute to the department in line with the firm’s business plan. Our firm aims to nurture and grow its own talent. To that end, we will support and mentor your development and progression. The firm aims to support successful candidates to ultimately become members of ACTAPS (the Association of Contentious Trusts and Probate Specialists).

The Contentious Probate team is recognised by the Legal 500 and nationally as a provider of excellent legal services for individuals and organisations. Consequently, the team has experienced an exponential growth of instructions in contentious probate matters. We are therefore looking to recruit to meet increasing client work demands and assist with the continued growth of the team.

The role

Our Graduate Solicitor Apprenticeship Programme has been designed to provide immediate direct exposure to a range of live cases, giving you the opportunity to gain invaluable experience. Throughout the programme, you will be assisted and trained on the required practice area of Contentious Probate. You will have 121 mentoring from senior colleagues and a supportive team.

The role will involve increasing levels of responsibility with experience and:

• You will be expected to pass the probationary period of at least six months before enrolment on the Graduate Solicitor Apprenticeship Programme.
• You will be enrolled on the Graduate Apprenticeship Programme with the University of Law on the earliest possible date following the successful completion of probation (August or February).
• When enrolled on the Graduate Apprenticeship Programme, you will work four days a week in the relevant department and one day a week ‘off the job’ studying as required.
• You will be granted study leave as required by the Graduate Apprenticeship Programme in advance of the SQE 1 and 2 exams.
• You will work five days a week in the department during probation, before being enrolled with the University of Law and when there is no requirement for ‘off the job’ studying or study leave.
• You must be prepared to study in your own time as required.
• All other expectations are summarised in the Graduate Apprenticeship Programme Pack. The Apprenticeship is delivered mainly online, meaning you will spend most of your time studying independently.

About us

Barcan+Kirby is well known in the Bristol legal market, both as a provider of excellent legal services for individuals and businesses, and as a progressive employer.

We are committed to developing and nurturing our people, and encouraging positive wellbeing and mental health is central to our culture. When we say we offer a work/life balance, we mean it, and we were advocates for flexible working long before the Covid-19 pandemic.

We work hard to maintain a culture of kindness and friendliness, and we like to think that we do things a bit differently from other law firms.