Training opportunities at the CPS

From a generous pension and family-friendly working policies to the chance to work on high-profile cases, the CPS has a lot to offer. Successful applicants are guaranteed a Crown prosecutor role after successfully completing their training.

Trainee solicitors will have ‘at least one secondment in an area outside of criminal law, and complete courses in proactive prosecuting, disclosure, advocacy skills, domestic abuse advocacy drills, and a CiLEX-regulated associate prosecutor qualification for rights of audience, enabling you to present independently in court’.

Pupil barristers will spend their first six months ‘non-practising—completing advocacy training, legal courses and an optional secondment in chambers. During your remaining six months, you put your training into practice—building your advocacy skills, presenting cases in court and working with criminal justice partners’.

Trainee solicitor Claire describes the role: ‘There are no two days the same… the CPS has a fantastic way of developing their staff.

‘It’s dealing with people’s lives and there is nothing better really than leaving work and knowing you’ve got the right result for the victims. You have such a good range of work and good opportunities. I could be undertaking with the supervisor pre-charge advices or legal triages or going to conference with barristers.’

Applications close at 1pm on 6 February. The CPS recruitment team is holding live web chats about the scheme on 22 and 30 January, giving applicants a chance to ask questions about the role. Further insight into the working lives of the legal trainees can be found in this video.

For more information on how to apply, visit cps.gov.uk/legal-trainee.