About the Role We are looking to recruit a junior Solicitor to join our award-winning Education team as we continue to grow our corporate offering in response to increasing client demand. The role will involve advising education clients within the independent schools sector on a broad range of corporate matters, including sales and acquisitions, charitable mergers, collaborations and wider strategic projects. You will work closely with experienced colleagues who regularly advise Boards of Governors, Heads, Bursars, commercial school groups and school proprietors. The team is known for providing clear, pragmatic advice and for its strong understanding of the education sector, built through advising more than 300 educational establishments across the UK. This is an intellectually engaging and purpose-driven area of corporate law, offering early responsibility within a supportive environment. Clear and structured progression pathways are in place, with junior lawyers encouraged and supported to develop their technical skills, build confidence and progress their careers at a sustainable pace. Training, supervision and regular feedback form a key part of the team’s approach to development. The Role You will support a varied and high-quality corporate caseload within the independent schools sector, including drafting and negotiating transaction and ancillary documents, assisting with due diligence exercises, and contributing to reorganisations and strategic projects. You will work closely with partners and colleagues across the wider Education team/sector to ensure matters are well managed, clients receive a seamless service, and strong, long-term relationships are developed. The work is commercially focused and technically interesting, with exposure to high-quality matters from an early stage, alongside the guidance and support needed to help you develop. About You You will be a qualified Solicitor with between 0 and 2 years’ PQE, with a grounding in corporate work gained during your training contract or post-qualification practice. You will be comfortable contributing to live matters and transactional work, with appropriate supervision and support. Experience of working with education or charity clients would be welcomed but is not essential. More important is your interest in this specialist area, your willingness to learn and your ability to work collaboratively as part of a team. You will be able to demonstrate good technical ability and drafting skills, strong attention to detail, commercial awareness, the ability to manage competing priorities and progress matters effectively and a proactive, conscientious and team-oriented approach, with clear and professional communication skills. If you are looking to develop your corporate experience in a niche and meaningful area of law, within a team that values support, collaboration and long-term development, we would be pleased to hear from you. Keyboard Shortcuts F9 - Move focus from the edit area to the Footer Toolbar F10 - Move focus from the edit area to the first toolbar button Shift TAB - Move focus from the edit area to the last toolbar button About You You are a Solicitor with 0–2 years’ PQE, bringing a foundation in corporate work gained during your training contract or in post‑qualification practice and the confidence to contribute to live transactions from day one. Experience with education and/or charity law clients is advantageous but not essential; more important is your appetite to learn, collaborate and deliver with precision. You will demonstrate excellent technical ability and drafting skills, strong commercial acumen, meticulous attention to detail, and the organisational discipline to progress multiple matters efficiently while building positive, professional relationships with clients and colleagues. We value a proactive, ambitious and team‑oriented approach. You will thrive in a collaborative environment, show sound judgment under time pressure, and communicate clearly in writing and in person. If you are motivated by niche corporate work that has real‑world impact for educational institutions and their communities, we would be delighted to hear from you. Keyboard Shortcuts F9 - Move focus from the edit area to the Footer Toolbar F10 - Move focus from the edit area to the first toolbar button Shift TAB - Move focus from the edit area to the last toolbar button About Us Benefits of working with us: • Private Medical Insurance • Sight tests / Glasses discounts • Scottish Widows Pension Scheme • 28 days annual leave (plus public holidays) • Bonus scheme • Electric vehicle scheme • International secondments for 0-5 PQE • Happy People / Perks at Work benefits portal • Cycle to Work scheme • Life Assurance • 1/3 gym membership contribution • Flu vaccinations Is HCR the smart move for you? HCR suits people who love a challenge and want to work in an environment where careers thrive on the back of hard work and personal merit. Our people enjoy feeling part of something bigger than themselves, and whilst our clients drive our development, it is our people who bring their energy, enthusiasm, and entrepreneurial mindsets together to solve problems and help our clients succeed. Why HCR people love their jobs Our people tell us they enjoy working on good quality, interesting matters from a wide variety of our clients, because they get the experience they want to develop their careers. We will give you responsibility early, the mandate to make things happen and we’ll back your good ideas. Our “Passion for People” lives and breathes every day throughout the firm as our peoples’ energy and sense of fun create a warm environment in which to thrive. What career progression will HCR offer you? HCR’s growth constantly creates opportunities for people who want to go places and make a difference, your career plan can become part of our growth plan. At HCR you can expect to work with friendly, energetic, ambitious people, who love getting stuck into a client problem, and enjoy celebrating a good outcome. Our people value the sense of community provided by the individual personality of each office and the collegiate approach across all our service and sector teams. What does HCR believe, achieve and stand for? As a Times Best Law firm, among the UK Top 50, we provide the full range of services that you would expect to organisations, business leaders and individuals. However, in our mission to give everyone the opportunity to experience a different kind of legal service we take an entrepreneurial approach. We’re flexible and responsive to the needs of our clients, delivering the best outcomes for them. We have more than 1000 lawyers and support staff, including more than 180 partners, and have been awarded the Law Society’s Lexcel quality mark in recognition of our compliance and client care standards. With 12 offices in England and Wales our well-established presence stretches from west to east, ensuring clients can access a full-service legal offering no matter where they’re located. We’ve expanded significantly across all our regions, and are well-respected as a regional firm with a strong London and international presence. With solid connections in the communities we work in, and a track record of delivering legal advice to businesses and individuals throughout the areas we base ourselves in, our clients continue to value our approach to providing legal advice, in the way they need, when they need it. As HCR is an equal opportunities employer, we don’t just accept differences, we celebrate them. We want to attract a diverse and ambitious workforce that reflects all backgrounds and skills to create a workplace that is supportive and inclusive, recognises and nurtures talent, and which works together to achieve the best outcome for our clients. We are privileged to be an armed forces-friendly organisation. We also want you to achieve your absolute best during the recruitment process. Please let us know of any changes we can make at any point that will help support your application. If this opportunity sounds of interest to you, please make an application and submit your CV. A note for recruitment agencies – The HCR Resourcing Team is responsible for recruitment across the firm, and where possible will use direct hiring methods. We do work with a Preferred Supplier List, and where appropriate, we will release vacancies to those agencies who we deem most appropriate to support us. Only those agencies will be invited to submit candidates via our recruitment portal. Any speculative or unsolicited CVs sent to any employee or Partner of HCR will not be considered an introduction, and no fees will be applicable. Furthermore, we retain the right to pursue these candidates without query of ownership Keyboard Shortcuts F9 - Move focus from the edit area to the Footer Toolbar F10 - Move focus from the edit area to the first toolbar button Shift TAB - Move focus from the edit area to the last toolbar button