overview
Are you a law graduate seeking a unique route to qualification as a solicitor?
At Kerv, we understand the challenges being faced by today’s law graduates. With around 30,000 law graduates each year in England & Wales and only about 5,500 legal training contracts available – most of which are offered by law firms – the competition is fierce. In-house training contracts are rare, making them a true “golden ticket” for those who want to build their legal career within a business rather than a traditional law firm.
Kerv Group Limited is proud to be a recognised SRA Authorised Training Provider, offering in-house training contracts and qualifying work experience (QWE) for ambitious graduates who want to take an alternative path to qualification.
What is our Legal Grad Program?
Kerv’s Legal Grad Program is an in-house legal training scheme designed for law graduates eager to launch their legal careers. While completing the program does not guarantee qualification as a solicitor, it provides participants with a wealth of learning opportunities and robust support.
Graduates work closely with a training supervisor to set and achieve their professional goals, all within a positive and collaborative environment. Kerv is committed to facilitating the qualification process as much as reasonably possible, making the program an excellent springboard for a future in law.
We offer two distinct opportunities in our Legal Graduate Program
Opportunity 1
Period of Recognised Training (Full Training Contract)
Working full-time within the legal team, this training contract is packed with learning opportunities and hands-on experience, which will include:
- Fixed-term employment (up to 2.5 years)
- Full-time role within the Legal Team
- Comprehensive exposure to multiple areas of law
- Continuous mentoring and progress tracking
- Opportunity to build your SRA Recognised Training Record
Key Benefits:
- Broader Legal Exposure: Work directly with our business as your only client, gaining experience across a variety of legal areas-from contract law and intellectual property to employment and real estate. Unlike most law firms, where early specialisation is the norm, our in-house team gives you the chance to develop a broad skill set shaped by real business needs.
- Supportive, Flexible Environment: Enjoy a workplace culture that values work-life balance, flexibility, and collaboration. There’s less focus on billable hours and more on meaningful contribution and professional growth.
- Mentorship and Tailored Learning: Work closely with experienced supervisors who will help you set and achieve your goals, with training tailored to your preferred learning style and regular progress reviews.
- Hands-On Experience: Get involved in real projects, collaborate with commercial departments, and interact with both internal stakeholders and external advisors.
Opportunity 2
Qualifying Work Experience (QWE)
This experience will be for an agreed period of time (usually weeks/months). It is envisaged the QWE opportunities will be utilised where there are set pieces of project work to be completed within the business.
- Flexible duration (usually weeks to months)
- Project-based legal work tailored to business needs
- Experience in one or several legal areas, depending on the project
- Pro-rata salary for the duration of your placement
Key Benefits:
- Set Project Work: The candidate will be required to perform set ‘project’ tasks which will change dependant on the business project requirements. The graduate will discuss and agree with the training supervisor on the goals sought to be achieved during the program, which may include collating evidence to assist in meeting the SRAs required recording of the QWE in anticipation of such being presented for sign-off.
- Legal Exposure: The tasks to be performed will vary from project to project. The QWE may address one or several areas of law as it will be dependent on the business requirement (project) at the time. There is scope for a variety of work to be completed in a project or for concentration to be on one area of law alone (e.g., commercial contract reviews).
- Supportive Environment: Kerv’s ethos ensures a friendly, respectful, and supportive workplace. It is important that the candidate meet and demonstrate daily the Kerv values.
"The best thing about working at Kerv is how the Legal Program is tailored to meet your Indvidual needs"
Quote from our Legal Grad Student – Martha Crosdil
Who Can Apply
To be eligible for the above graduate programs you must meet the following qualification requirements.
- For a full training contract: The candidate will be required to have as a minimum of the LPC/SQE 2 qualification
- For QWE: The candidate must be seeking to commence study of either SQE 1 or SQE 2.
How To Apply
Kerv is passionate about highlighting the possible choices and opportunities to assist law graduates in their pursuit of qualification as a solicitor.
You can apply to be a part of the program in a simple 2-step process.
Step 1: Send via email <legal@kerv.com> your current CV; and
Step 2: Answer the below questions in your email:
- How did you learn about the Graduate Program? e.g. word of mouth, LinkedIn etc.
- What interests you about the Kerv Graduate Program?
- Why (if at all) do you consider this Graduate Program different to others?
- Were you aware of in-house training contract opportunities?
- What advice/feedback would you give to Kerv to use in promoting this opportunity.
We maintain a register of interest for applicants who wish to be considered for any upcoming intake. The register is the first port of call for the Legal Team where an intake is approved; therefore, we would recommend your submission of an application.
About Your Application
Where you complete an application and return the required information, you are consenting to your information being retained by Kerv, so that we may contact you when we have a date for the next intake.
All feedback provided in the table above may be used by Kerv in future Kerv marketing. Where any of your feedback is used, it shall be anonymised. We will not use your personal details in our marketing unless you expressly grant such permission.
"Tailored training. This is what stood out for me the most. I believe that there is no one style of training method that suit all candidates. I thrive off training, so it is important to me that it is tailored to my training style."
Feedback from other candidates.
Legal Graduate Experience
Hear it from our full TC law graduate Martha Crosdil
Kerv’s legal department are currently providing a full TC to a law graduate (Martha Crosdil). In a review of the Legal Grad Program, Martha shared her thoughts about her journey at Kerv so far!
Quote from Martha
I have found working at Kerv to be the best possible springboard to my career. My training supervisor, with whom I work closely, gives me the opportunity to learn across a broad range of legal areas and is very helpful. I find each day brings new challenges and exposure to aspects of law across many practice areas, from contract law to employment law. This variety is exciting and stimulating. I feel I am learning a huge amount through practice. If I was asked what the ‘unique selling point’ of the Kerv Grad Program is it allows for a much more tailored and nurturing training experience; which is able to take into account the individual’s needs.
Kerv has proved to be a great place to work, especially as the ethos across the company is very positive and everyone is friendly, respectful and supportive.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions about Legal Grad Program
Yes, in-house solicitors are subject to the SRA’s regulatory framework and must adhere to the same principles and regulations as those in private practice.
You can qualify in-house via a period of recognised training when you have taken have the LPC or via Qualifying Work Experience (‘QWE’) when you have taken SQE’s examinations.
Please see the links below with more details about this:
SRA | Becoming a solicitor | Solicitors Regulation Authority
SRA | Qualified lawyers | Solicitors Regulation Authority
SRA | What is a period of recognised training? | Solicitors Regulation Authority
SRA | Qualifying work experience | Solicitors Regulation Authority
Qualifying in-house is very different to private practice Firm.
Firstly, unlike in a Firm, you do not have the traditional seats in different areas where you spend 3 months on each of the areas, then you rotate.
Secondly you usually have a single authorised supervisor who is responsible for ‘signing off’ on the work you are submitting to demonstrate your skills and knowledge. Although you may have a singular supervisor, this does not mean that you are restricted to working solely with that individual.
It is noteworthy that at Kerv, your supervisor will have regular meetings and mentoring sessions with you, to check progress and legal understanding and discuss soft skills where required. Our current legal graduate confirms that the mentoring aspect and 1-2-1 support has been one of the most significant and differentiating to Firm factors, which she believes are the ‘unsung unique qualities’ of Kerv’s training contract offering.
Thirdly, your supervisor may require you to complete various administrative duties which will enable you to compile documentary evidence of the work you have completed and how you have met the SRA requirements. At Kerv, there are prescribed evidence logs and trackers used to show progress towards meeting the SRA requirements. At the end of the training contract/PRT, the graduate will submit their portfolio of evidence to their supervisor for final review and assessment. Although, this process may not just be the same for all in house training contracts/PRT, it is our belief something similar would occur.
In In-house you are likely to work in more than one area of law per day/week. For example, you may be reviewing /amending a confidentiality agreement for some of the day, then move to review an Employment Law issue, which may have arisen.
Exposure to vast areas of law is an absolute with Kerv. Qualifying via this route will provide the individual with exposure to such areas, whilst meeting the SRA criteria and standards to facilitate qualifying.
Thirdly, you only have 1 client, which is the organisation which employs you. Unlike in a Firm where you are likely to work on several client case files, your sole responsibility and duty is to a single client, your employer.
In-house are tantamount to GPs as they are often sought out for involvement in all manners of legal work. They often have more than foundational knowledge about many areas of law. Whereas those in Private Practice are more akin to consultants/surgeons; given they are specialists in a particular area of law.
It is Kerv’s legal teams view that the GPs analogy is ‘fair’ and represents a sound basis of in-house; given the various areas of law usually being advised on and the breadth of legal tasks sought from individuals!
Some examples have been provided already in the other FAQs. However, to summarise, the key differences between an in-house and a firm solicitor are:
- Who they work for: In-house there is usually 1 overall client (your employer)
- How they work: It would be unusual for an in-house lawyer to have to complete billable and register their time against individual cases. Often the work flow and processes for management of legal tasks is bespoke, with each organisation/employer utilising different processes and methods to track and manage caseloads.
- The nature of their legal responsibilities: There are often differences between in-house teams, as to the business requirements which are expected to be completed by them. For example, where an organisation has a large legal team, you may see within the legal team various sub departments which concentrate on fewer areas of law. There may be an employment law dept, a litigation department etc. This format may often resonate with law practitioners as it is familiar to Firm arrangements. However, smaller organisations and/or legal teams may be required by their organisation to advise across all legal aspects.
- Commercial understanding: Often in-house lawyers are involved in commercial strategy, risk management, compliance, and internal training. There may be some exposure to this in Firm, but the opportunities for such are limited in comparison to in-house. Furthermore, whilst in Firm a lawyer may have targets to meet for introducing new clients no such requirement exists in-house.
- Company culture: The in-house lawyer becomes a colleague to others in the business and are often sought out to help in cross dept work, such as implementing new processes or policies. This can build excellent networking opportunities and provide further valuable insights into how a business functions. Being an employee of the organisation, the in-house lawyer experiences the same camaraderie with peers and benefits from the same cultural environment. Often it is said that in-house lawyers have a better work life balance than Firm lawyers as the hours for in-house usually reflect 9-5 and there can be more predictable workloads than in private practice.
- Career Path: Whilst in Firm there is a clear structure path to Partner; in-house there is not always such clear pathways. In general the highest role within an in-house team is usually the ‘General Counsel’ position however, varieties of this title exist within different organisations. For example, larger organisations may have a ‘VP General Counsel’.
The working hours are generally from 9am to 5:30. However, there might be the odd time where you will be required to work later if you have a pressing deadline to meet.
The money in-house is usually less, compared to private practice. However, most see this as an acceptable ‘sacrifice’ for the work life balance offered. It should be noted that there are some larger organisations (Blue Chip companies etc) who do pay similar salaries to Firms.
Although not all in-house opportunities offer remote working, Kerv understands and appreciates the benefits for such. The remote working environment is successful within the Kerv legal team given the tools provided to facilitate this and the culture of the organisation. It is understood some may feel that remote working may be lonely, however, the choice is available to work in office where desired and when required for team matters.
Martha Crosdil Kerv’s current Legal graduate says, “I absolutely love working from home, I never feel alone. I always have Barry and Andrea at the end of a team’s call. I am always able to instant message them if I need any sort of assistance. We also have two Legal team calls a week, where we discuss our current matters and any issues which have arisen.”
The Kerv values are not just said for the sake of it. They are present in the culture at Kerv and are visible in most areas of daily working. They are the ‘glue’ that pull all colleagues in the same direction irrespective of hierarchy.
