Yes, of course. All our paralegals are paid above Award rates for their time and are employed as Casuals by Yegal for the duration of any project.
We work with a mix of top tier, mid tier and international law firms. We also work with In-house / Corporate Counsel across a range of industries. A growing client base is our network of boutique law firms who wish to bring on a casual paralegal as they deal with a large new instruction or are ready to expand.
We also have some clients who work are insurance claims firms. Claims roles are a great way for law students to gain practical experience as a ‘bridge’ to securing a law firm job.
We collect your availability as a starting point and we match you to a job that suits your availability. Having wider availability will boost your chances of securing work. Clients tend to want paralegals who can work at least 3 days per week so they can get continuity with the same paralegals however this is not always the case. It’s very important to us that you put your studies first and the Yegal team will do whatever it can to make sure your work commitments complement (rather the compromise) your studies!
We want to help law students because we know getting into the industry can be hard. We do work with graduates on a number of projects and graduates are encouraged to apply. We’ll consider candidates in their first two years post admission. We don’t tend to work with senior lawyers as much but we can refer you to other companies who do!
Our paralegal projects vary in type and duration. Some of our paralegals are placed to ongoing 2 day per week projects with In-House Counsel or with a Boutique firm. Conversely, projects at larger firms (top-tier and international firms) tend to average 3 months in duration. Furthermore, these placements typically involve E-Discovery. If you want to give yourself the best chance of securing a position with a large firm your CV must reference E-Discovery knowledge. If you don’t know what E-Discovery is jump over to Yegal Academy and find out!
All Yegal Paralegals are paid above the Legal Services Award rate. None of our positions are volunteer placements or internships.
You are paid fortnightly, one week in arrears, by Friday 5pm at the latest and you will receive your payslip by email the day before. This allows us time to get your timesheets approved and for payments to be processed.
Yegal also works with clients on permanent roles. We tell all our paralegals to “go in and put your best foot forward.” A paralegal who makes a good impression during a short term assignment always gives themselves the opportunity to extend an engagement.
Many short term paralegal projects convert to permanent employment. You can read about these cases on our Paralegal Blog
We cannot. Clients use Yegal when they want to dial up and down on resources to handle busy periods. Despite this, where possible we like to build relationships with paralegals. After completing one successful project it is likely we will offer second and third opportunities to that same paralegal (subject to conflict checks of course). Many of our paralegals have worked in multiple legal settings before they are admitted.
We do not. Internationally qualified lawyers are encouraged to enrol in eDiscovery training and target eDiscovery positions as a means of breaking into the legal job market here in Australia.
View Yegal Academy here.
Of course! We encourage our paralegals to fit our placements around existing work and study commitments. There is no obligation to work exclusively through Yegal during your placement. In saying that – paralegals who have 3+ days per week availability tend to have better chance of landing a Yegal job.
The majority of our paralegal placements are due to short term spikes in activity for our clients. This means paralegals who respond quickly to our notifications and can start shortly thereafter tend to find their way into jobs. Other jobs are not as time-critical. There is no hard and fast rule here.
We’re looking for students who can demonstrate a Credit Average at a minimum. Our Paralegals are a reflection of us. We look for high-achievers where we can.
Not necessarily. Most clients want to see some form of paid office experience though we understand this is not always a realistic requirement for law students. In saying that if you don’t have practical work experience it might be the case that law firms won’t want to train you. Firms typically hire in greater numbers at the 2+ PQE level than at the 0-2 years PQE level. Supplementing the legal theory taught at University with practical legal training to make you job ready can help you overcome a lack of practical work experience.
If you have no law firm experience but want a law firm job – you should consider Yegal Academy training.
If you are volunteering then you should be commended. If you are volunteering in a legal setting to help your professional prospects we encourage you to shift your mindset. Volunteering at a law firm won’t motivate a law firm to bring you on in a paid role. Volunteering in a legal setting shows a potential employer that you do not place high enough value on your time. At Yegal we believe that time spent volunteering might instead be spent:
- Identifying a niche area of practice that you have an interest in; and
- Upskilling – find training opportunities which specifically relate to that niche area;
For example, around 80% of paralegals and junior litigators work on a discovery project at some point in their first 3 years of practice. If you want to land a law firm job then teach yourself e-discovery via Yegal Academy. It’s totally FREE!
Applicants who make it through our first round of screening are invited to create a paralegal profile photo. Having a paralegal profile gets you:
- Priority access to Yegal Paralegal jobs;
- Exclusive opportunities to participate in our email marketing promotions
- Your photo on our website to tell clients you are looking for work
Yes – most definitely. Once you make it through our competitive screening process we aim to help as many of students as possible find paralegal jobs. If you haven’t heard back from us you might be light on for experience or relevant skills. There is NO FEE for any of our Yegal Academy training so you might like to check it out!