Beyond Law Group continues its drive to support young talent by awarding four of its paralegals with training contracts

Leading North-West law firm, Beyond Law Group, has announced it has offered training contracts to four of its talented paralegals. Ruth Hassard, Jack Kimberley, Adele Mawdsley and Molly Hackett will be starting their training contracts with Beyond Law Group in September 2022.

Beyond Law Group, which was established in 2017, prides itself on developing and nurturing its own talent and only accepts training contract applications from internal candidates. This year, the Group received four internal applications for training contracts, and all four candidates were successful.

Ruth, Jack and Molly joined Beyond Law Group in 2021 as paralegals in the Group’s specialist corporate and commercial practice, Beyond Corporate, and Adele joined in 2019 as a paralegal in the Group’s specialist family and child law practice, McAlister Family Law.

Beyond Law Group’s business structure is unique in that it owns and manages specialist legal practices but operates under one modern business structure, meaning that over the course of the next two years all four successful candidates will have the opportunity to gain valuable experience in the Group’s three award-winning specialist practices: Beyond Corporate, McAlister Family Law and Beyond Conveyancing.

In working across the three practices, the Group is hoping to create a more rounded and balanced experience for all of the trainees, given the opportunity to work with leading practices across the disciplines, and nurturing greater degrees of emotional and commercial development.

The Group is also keen to facilitate new pathways to careers in law and break down the barriers to entry, and as such currently sponsors four apprentices – who again, were internal candidates.

Over the last 12 months, Beyond Law Group has put the recruitment and development of young talent at the forefront of its business strategy. The Group has subsequently recruited ten paralegals across its three specialist practices in the last year and has rolled out a bespoke mentoring programme for all its young people, with a strong focus on training, development and wellbeing but with absolute transparency on the competencies needed for career advancement. It aims to ensure that it has sufficient opportunities for career advancement for everyone who hits the relevant competencies.

Matt Fleetwood, Beyond Law Group’s founder and Chief Executive, said: “We believe not just in talent but also in loyalty, which is why we award training contracts and apprenticeships to internal candidates only.

This year we had four applications. We offered four training contracts. All of the candidates met clear presentational, technical and personal competencies and capabilities. For us, if someone has a clear understanding of the competencies for the role and meet them – they shouldn’t be held back because someone has a quota mentality to recruitment.

These are young people’s careers; our responsibilities should not be taken lightly and I’m hugely proud of the talent we have in our business.”

Successful candidate, Jack Kimberley, commented: “I am excited and thoroughly grateful to Matt and Beyond Law Group for supporting our professional development in offering the four of us training contracts, enabling us to reach the next stage in our careers.

“Beyond Law Group’s inclusive, people-centric culture alongside its incredible client base has made the previous six months both incredibly insightful and rewarding. I look forward to carrying the same momentum into the training contract in September!”

Adele Mawdsley added: “For all four of us to be awarded training contracts is unheard of for a firm of Beyond Law Group’s size and age, and exemplifies how invested Matt and the senior leadership team are in supporting and nurturing the young talent in the Group.

“The journey so far has been incredible, not just in terms of personal development and training opportunities but also being a part of the Group’s uniquely inclusive culture and incredibly collaborative working environment.”