About the job

Job summary

The Government Legal Profession (GLP) Legal Trainee Solicitor Campaign offers you the chance to start your legal career with a legal trainee position (i.e. training contract/qualifying work experience) in either the Government Legal Department (GLD), including GLD’s Commercial Law Group and Department for Transport Legal Advisers (DfTLA), HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the National Crime Agency (NCA) or the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The trainee positions on offer will commence in September 2025 and September 2026.  

Job description

Whether the government is buying goods and services, investigating mergers that could restrict competition, setting the annual budget and collecting the right amount of tax, employing people, fighting organised crime or defending its decisions in court, it needs significant levels of legal advice on a whole range of complex issues.

Person specification

Trainee solicitors typically spend six months in 4 different areas of practice (‘seats’) over the 2-year training period, undertaking a mix of contentious and non-contentious legal work.  The exact nature of the work and on-the-job training depends upon the GLP department in which you are placed.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £31,696, Government Legal Department contributes £8,558 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Please note that successful candidates will be expected to undergo Security Check (SC) clearance.

Further information and details on how to apply can be found at the below link:

Government Legal Profession - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.