Short, printable lists for lawyers weighing a move and for law firms hiring or keeping people. Every one is taken straight from one of our Insights articles, so you can check the sources behind it.
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In shortFree checklists for lawyers and for law firms, made from our source-checked articles. Download them as PDFs with no sign-up and no email. They are general information, not legal advice.
For lawyers
Each one is a short list to tick through before you resign, send a CV, take a call or say yes to a role.
Everything in one document
Every lawyer’s checklist in one document: notice periods, counter-offers, recruiter questions, adverts, pay questions and first-job checks.
15 checklists. PDF, 28 pages, 570 KB.
From: What a wrong job really costs a lawyer, beyond the salary
No UK study puts one pound figure on what a wrong job costs a lawyer, so any single number is an estimate. Published data does show the parts: faster pay growth for people who change jobs, 22.9 working days lost per case of work-related stress, and falling odds of finding work the longer you are out. Most of the cost is avoidable if you check the role before you accept it.
PDF, 2 pages, 188 KB
From: Ghost jobs: how to tell a real legal vacancy from a CV trap
A ghost job is an advert for a role that nobody is trying to fill, often posted to collect CVs. You can usually spot one by what is missing: the firm, the pay, the place and the working pattern. One short email asking for those four details tests most adverts before you send a CV.
PDF, 2 pages, 183 KB
From: How long is a solicitor's notice period, and can it be shortened?
Your contract sets it. The legal minimum is only one week once you have been in the job a month, and solicitor contracts can run longer. Your employer can agree a shorter period, but it does not have to.
PDF, 2 pages, 142 KB
From: How many live files is too many? Conveyancer caseloads explained
There is no official number of live files that is too many for a conveyancer. The right figure depends on the type of work, the systems and whether there is an assistant, so the useful test is whether files are moving and the person can cope. Count your real caseload, then ask any firm for its number, not a description.
PDF, 2 pages, 185 KB
From: How to check supervision and support before your first law job
Check supervision by asking who will review your work, how often you will meet, how many matters you will hold and what training time is protected. The SRA expects firms to have an effective system for supervising clients' matters, and says less experienced staff need more of their work checked. Ask for the answers in writing before you accept.
PDF, 1 page, 110 KB
From: Is AI reading your CV? What happens to your application at a law firm
Sometimes, yes. Some firms and recruiters use software to search, score or sort CVs, and some use none. UK law gives you rights where a significant decision about you is made with no meaningful human involvement, and you can ask any firm or recruiter who reads your application and how your data is used.
PDF, 2 pages, 196 KB
From: Should you tell a recruiter your current salary?
Not first. You can ask for the budgeted band, then say what you want and what you would not accept. We found no UK law that makes you give a recruiter your current salary, and none that stops them asking.
PDF, 1 page, 137 KB
From: Moving jobs when unfair dismissal protection starts after six months
From 1 January 2027, an employee in England, Scotland or Wales can claim ordinary unfair dismissal after six months in the job, instead of two years. Probation periods, notice periods and a firm's right to dismiss fairly stay as they are, and discrimination and whistleblowing protection already need no minimum service. For a lawyer thinking of moving, the written terms matter more than the date.
PDF, 2 pages, 204 KB
From: Why recruiters ghost lawyers, and what a good recruiter does instead
Recruiters ghost lawyers mostly because of volume, a firm that has gone quiet, and a pay model that rewards the placement and not the update. It is common: in three vendor surveys, 42% to 61% of jobseekers reported silence after an interview. Set the terms of contact early, send one follow-up, then move on.
PDF, 2 pages, 195 KB
From: How to read a legal job advert: what the phrases really mean
Most phrases in a legal job advert are not lies, but they leave out the detail that matters. Each one has a plain question that gets the detail: the pay band, the number of live files, who supervises you and the working pattern in days. Ask before you apply, and take the checklist in this guide to the interview.
PDF, 1 page, 153 KB
From: Why legal job adverts should show the salary, and what to show
A legal job advert should show the pay band, the working pattern in days, the place and the date posted. Many UK jobseekers use pay to decide whether to apply, and a firm that hides it loses people before it meets them. In a CV-Library survey of 1,043 UK jobseekers in August 2026, 41% said they would not apply without salary information.
PDF, 2 pages, 191 KB
From: What to ask a legal recruiter before you send your CV
Before you send a CV, ask which firm it is, what the pay band and working pattern are, and who will see your CV. Also ask whether they will change it and how long they will keep your details. UK law sets only a floor, so get the answers by email and agree each firm before anything is sent.
PDF, 2 pages, 182 KB
From: How to resign from a law firm: the order, the letter, the meeting
Resign only once you hold a signed contract, and read your own contract first for notice, garden leave and restrictive covenants. Tell your supervising partner in person, then confirm in a short letter the same day. Take no client files, and agree with your firm what clients are told.
PDF, 2 pages, 186 KB
From: Should you accept a counter-offer from your law firm?
Accept a counter-offer only if it fixes the reason you started looking, in writing, with a date. If the reason was pay and the pay is now right, staying can be a good result. If it was supervision, caseload, progression or how the firm treats people, a rise does not change that.
PDF, 1 page, 157 KB
From: What does a conveyancer do, and what do they earn in the UK?
A conveyancer handles the legal side of buying or selling property in England and Wales, from the draft contract to exchange, completion and registering the new owner. Published pay varies: the National Careers Service gives £25,000 for a starter and £65,000 for an experienced licensed conveyancer, and a July 2026 recruiter guide gives £45,000 to £75,000 at three years PQE and over. Pay moves with level, region, caseload and supervision duties.
PDF, 2 pages, 157 KB
For law firms
Each one is a short list to work through before you pick a recruiter, agree terms, publish an advert or take on a hire.
Everything in one document
Every law firm’s checklist in one document: choosing a recruiter, fees and exclusivity, writing an honest advert, keeping staff and CILEX hires.
8 checklists. PDF, 17 pages, 434 KB.
From: How many live files is too many? Conveyancer caseloads explained
There is no official number of live files that is too many for a conveyancer. The right figure depends on the type of work, the systems and whether there is an assistant, so the useful test is whether files are moving and the person can cope. Count your real caseload, then ask any firm for its number, not a description.
PDF, 2 pages, 185 KB
From: How to choose a legal recruiter: a checklist for law firms
Choose a legal recruiter who knows your practice area, gives you one named contact and puts terms in writing before any CV is sent. Check the track record with references you can ring, and ask how candidates are screened and how your firm's name is handled. Then test two agencies on one live role and compare the whole terms, not the fee alone.
PDF, 2 pages, 140 KB
From: Recruiter exclusivity and rebates: what to ask before you sign
Before you sign a recruiter's terms, find out what counts as an introduction and how long it lasts, whether you are tied to one agency and exactly when a rebate is due. Get the fee base, payment dates and CV rules in writing before any CV is sent. The right terms depend on the role and the firm, so compare two sets on one real salary.
PDF, 2 pages, 161 KB
From: How much do legal recruitment agencies charge? UK fees explained
There is no standard fee. Legal recruitment agencies usually charge a percentage of the hire's first-year salary, and a 2020 directory listed rates from 17% to 35%. The rebate, the definition of salary and the introduction period change the real cost as much as the percentage does.
PDF, 1 page, 112 KB
From: How to keep conveyancers from leaving: causes, costs and fixes
Conveyancers usually leave over caseload, thin supervision, pay that has drifted, a progression route nobody wrote down, weak systems or how the firm treats people. Most of these show months before a resignation if you count files, hours and stalled matters and ask people what would make them go. The only legal-sector replacement cost we found dates from 2014, so work out your own with the bad hire calculator.
PDF, 2 pages, 153 KB
From: How to write a conveyancer job advert that gets applications
A conveyancer advert that gets applications names the role, the place, the pay band, the working pattern in days, the work in files and systems, who supervises and what happens next. Leave out any wording that points to an age, a sex or another protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, and describe the competence you need instead. Pay matters: in CV-Library's August 2026 survey, 41% of 1,043 UK jobseekers said they would not apply without salary information.
PDF, 2 pages, 188 KB
From: What does a conveyancer do, and what do they earn in the UK?
A conveyancer handles the legal side of buying or selling property in England and Wales, from the draft contract to exchange, completion and registering the new owner. Published pay varies: the National Careers Service gives £25,000 for a starter and £65,000 for an experienced licensed conveyancer, and a July 2026 recruiter guide gives £45,000 to £75,000 at three years PQE and over. Pay moves with level, region, caseload and supervision duties.
PDF, 2 pages, 157 KB
From: What the Mazur ruling means for firms hiring CILEX lawyers
The September 2025 High Court ruling in Mazur was reversed by the Court of Appeal on 31 March 2026. Staff who are not authorised, such as CILEX Fellows without litigation practice rights, can do litigation tasks if an authorised person stays responsible and properly supervises. The sources we read to 22 October 2026 report no further appeal.
PDF, 2 pages, 166 KB
These checklists are general information, not legal advice. Each PDF says when its article was last checked, and links to the full article with the sources for every figure. Where the law or the market changes, we update the article and re-issue the PDF.
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