Flex Legal Trainee: Spring 27 cohort
Role: Flex Legal Trainee, Spring 2027 cohort
Start date: March 2027
Applications close: midday on Monday 2nd November
What is the Flex Early Careers Trainee Programme?
The Flex Early Careers Programme creates fixed-term employment opportunities for aspiring solicitors or company secretaries from under-represented socio-economic backgrounds.
An employment opportunity in in-house legal teams
Flex works with leading UK legal teams to provide employees with practical experience across a wide range of work. Previous secondments have included international banks and other financial services businesses, leading manufacturers and retailers, technology and telecommunications companies, and charities. Flex Legal employs Flex Legal Trainees on fixed-term employment contracts and seconds them to in-house legal teams to gain practical experience. Secondments typically last one or two years but may be shorter. An employee may work with one host organisation throughout or undertake multiple secondments.
Your responsibilities and experience will depend on the host client and the work available within its legal team. During the assessment process, we will discuss your preferred industries and areas of law to inform our matching process. We cannot guarantee a secondment that matches every preference. Some clients offer team rotations, which may allow employees to move between teams during their secondment but this is not guaranteed.
Successful Flex Legal Trainees are proactive and open to a broad range of opportunities. Your responsibilities may evolve during a secondment as the client’s needs change. Building professional relationships and seeking appropriate responsibilities can help you develop your experience. To maximise your prospects of receiving an employment offer, you should consider a broad range of opportunities. Declining opportunities may reduce the likelihood of securing a role during that recruitment cycle.
Employees who pass the SQE assessments and complete the required QWE may apply to the Solicitors Regulation Authority for admission as a solicitor. The timing will depend on when each individual completes the applicable requirements.
Any extension or continuation of fixed-term employment depends on satisfactory performance, client demand and the terms of the employment contract.
Support and benefits available to Flex Legal Trainee
As a Flex Legal Trainee, you will be given the opportunity to undertake practical work within in-house legal teams. We work with clients across a range of industries (past clients include: ASOS, Trustpilot, NatWest, and Mondelez). Flex Legal remains your employer and principal point of contact throughout your secondment and will support you in performing your role and managing your secondment. As a Flex Legal Trainee, you will receive:
A first-year salary of £32,000 in London or £28,000 elsewhere. If your employment continues into a second year, the salary will be £35,000 in London or £31,000 elsewhere.
Eligible employees may receive SQE preparation courses through BARBRI and examination funding. The support available will depend on your existing qualifications, secondment length and continued satisfactory performance in your role. Where SQE study forms part of the support available to you, you will normally work 4.5 days each week during the relevant study period but this is subject to client business needs.
A three-week week Readiness Programme before you start your secondment to help you contribute effectively from the outset.
An in-house supervisor who will meet with Flex each month to review your performance, experience and development.
Regular coaching, professional development and industry networking opportunities to support your performance and career development.
Access to the Flex Legal QWE Journal, our proprietary tool for recording eligible work as QWE.
Allocated SQE study time during relevant study periods, where this forms part of the support available to you.
A range of benefits, including a cycle-to-work scheme, nursery benefits and private healthcare with Bupa after successful completion of probation.
Trainee in Waiting process
Joining the Trainee in Waiting pool confirms that you have passed the Flex Legal recruitment process and may be considered for suitable client vacancies. It does not constitute an offer of employment or guarantee a secondment. We may share opportunities that align with your experience and preferences. You may decline opportunities presented to you, although doing so may reduce the likelihood of securing a role during that recruitment cycle. Flex Legal may make a formal offer of fixed-term employment after a client selects you for a secondment and you accept the proposed opportunity.
Applications for the Flex Legal Trainee Spring 27 cohort closes at midday on Monday 2nd November 2026.
We assess applications on a rolling basis and recommend applying early. Assessment centre capacity is limited, and invitations are issued to suitable candidates as they progress through the process. Applying early may give you a wider choice of available assessment dates.
We will endeavour to respond to every applicant, although there may be delays. For some candidates, progression will depend on confirming suitable client vacancies in their preferred location. If this affects your application, we may place your application on hold and update you when further information is available.
Please review our application process before applying
What Flex assesses during the recruitment process
Our recruitment process considers more than legal knowledge. We want to understand your career aspirations, reasons for applying to Flex Legal and interest in working within an in-house legal team. We also assess your commercial awareness and motivation for gaining legal work experience in-house. Our competency framework draws on the O-Shaped Lawyer attributes associated with effective in-house lawyers.
We are a Disability Confident employer and make reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process. Please let us know in your application form or email [email protected] if you require an adjustment.
Eligibility
The Flex Legal Trainee Programme provides an accessible route to fixed-term employment and in-house legal experience for candidates at different stages of the SQE or Legal Practice Course (LPC). The work arrangements and SQE support available will depend on your existing qualifications. Please review the eligibility criteria below before applying.
SQE & LPC Eligibility
Not yet started SQE1 or the LPC: You may apply if you meet the other eligibility criteria set out below.
SQE1 or LPC: You are welcome to apply if you have passed, are currently studying for, or are awaiting results for the SQE1 or LPC.
SQE2: You are welcome to apply if you have passed, are currently studying for, or are awaiting results for the SQE2.
Important note for candidates currently studying or awaiting results: We cannot put candidates forward for client secondments until their results are confirmed. Therefore, your eligibility for a specific recruitment cycle depends on when your results are expected (you will be asked for this date during your application). If your expected results date makes you ineligible for the Spring 27 recruitment cycle, we will let you know and may invite you to apply in the next eligible cycle.
Other Eligibility
Social mobility: You must meet our social mobility criteria, which are based on the Social Mobility Commission framework. During the application process, we will ask about your socio-economic circumstances while growing up.
Academic requirements: You must have completed a UK Qualifying Law Degree from a course listed on the SRA website and achieved a grade of 2.1 or above. If mitigating circumstances prevented you from meeting this grade requirement, please provide details in your application. We will also accept applications from candidates who have completed the GDL or comparable conversion course.
SQE examination status: You must meet the requirements set out above.
Right to work: Successful candidates must demonstrate their right to work in the UK. We cannot currently provide visa sponsorship.
As published by recruitee · 33 questions · 6 written answers
Basics
Full name, Email, CV, Cover letter, Phone, Photo
Short answers (8)
- Where do you currently live, or where will you be living in Spring 2027? (Please provide your postcode)
- What is your current notice period and is it flexible?
- If you are currently studying for your SQE1, when do you intend to sit your exam? (Please provide the month, year, and whether it is booked.) optional
- If you are currently studying for your LPC, when do you intend to sit your exam? (Please provide the month, year, and whether it is booked.) optional
- If you have sat your SQE1 or LPC exam, or have a sitting booked, when are you due to get your results? optional
- If you are currently studying for your SQE2, when do you intend to sit your exam? (Please provide the month, year, and whether it is booked.) optional
- If you have sat your SQE2 exam, or have a sitting booked, when are you due to get your results? optional
- Please specify your undergraduate degree course, institution, result and year (e.g. Queen Mary University of London, LLB Law, 2.1, 2024). Include your GDL/Law conversion if applicable.
Pick from a list (19)
- Please list your preferred work location(s). (if your preferred location is not listed, select the closest city)
- Would you be open to relocate?
- Do you drive and have access to a car?
- What is your current SQE1 or LPC status?
- What is your current SQE2 status?
- Do you hold a UK qualifying law degree or a GDL/Law conversion? (If you are unsure, please check here https://shorturl.at/YybW1)
- Which of the below best describes the occupation of your main household earner when you were aged around 14?
- Which type of school did you attend for the most time between the ages of 11 and 16?
- If you were educated in the UK anytime from 1980 onwards, were you eligible for free school meals at any point during your school years?
- Did either of your parents/carers attend university and gain a degree (e.g. BA/BSc or equivalent) by the time you were 18?
- Have you ever worked more than 16 hours per week during term time (school, college or university) for two or more consecutive terms due to financial need?
- In your lifetime, have you or your primary carer (e.g., a parent or grandparent) ever claimed Universal Credit or other forms of government financial support?
- Have you ever been placed into local authority care?
- Have you ever had either refugee or asylum seeker status in any country?
- If you pass the Flex part of the assessment process, you may be invited to interview with a number of our clients. We want to ensure you are also supported through those interviews. To make the necessary arrangements, we may need to share the specific adjustments you require. Do we have your permission to do this?
- If you are successful after the assessment centre stage, Flex may share your details with clients during the matching process. Do you give us consent to share your CV, cover letter, and contact details with these clients?
- Do you confirm that you have read and understood details of the programme on the following webpage: https://flex.legal/apply/flex-trainee
- Where did you hear about this opportunity?
- Please select your current eligibility to work in the UK:
Written answers (6)
- Is there anything else you would like to share about your SQE or LPC qualifications that you think would be useful for us to know? optional
- If you grew up outside the UK, please describe the type of School you attended? Please include details of whether your school was state-funded or an independent fee-paying school, and whether you received any means tested bursaries. optional
- Is there any further information you want to provide that you feel is relevant to your social mobility? Please use this space to provide additional details regarding how your socio-economic circumstances may have affected your access to education or a professional career. optional
- Do you have any extenuating circumstances that have impacted your education or employment? Please feel free to share any details you feel comfortable disclosing, particularly focusing on how they affected your journey. optional
- We are committed to an inclusive recruitment process. To ensure you can perform at your best, please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments to participate fully in the interview process. This information will be treated confidentially and will not affect the outcome of your application. optional
- If you answered 2, 3, 4 or 5 to the question above, please provide further details on your eligibility to work in the UK. Including your visa type, expiration date and any restrictions you have. optional