Careers

Russells has a superb track record with staff loyalty and career development and a large number of the current partners at the firm joined as trainee solicitors. If you are interested in applying to work at Russells, please see the current career opportunities that are available below.

Current Vacancies

Corporate Senior Associate Vacancy

We are seeking an experienced Corporate Lawyer (5+ PQE) to join our growing corporate team.

In this exciting role you will join the corporate team, playing a key part in advising a broad range of clients on a variety of corporate transactions, including artist catalogue sales and purchases, company sales and purchases and private equity, investment and venture capital deals.

The work will service clients within the music, media, entertainment, technology, TV, film, theatre and book industries.

You will either lead or be closely involved in all stages of the deal process, from initial client meetings to transaction execution. You will deal directly with clients and be responsible for your own transactions in many instances.

The ideal candidate:

Will be a qualified lawyer with 5+ years' PQE in corporate transactions, gained in a leading law firm.
A background of working with clients in the media and entertainment sectors is preferred, but not essential.

This is an exceptional opportunity to work on high profile transactions within the media and entertainment sectors, alongside Partners and Associates regarded as leaders within these areas.

If you are interested in being considered for this position, please send your CV to Joanne Cocozza by email to: joanne.cocozza@russells.co.uk.

Commercial Music Lawyer - New Artist Team

We are looking for a 2-4 PQE lawyer to join our commercial music team, in the new artist department.

The work will entail the drafting and negotiation of: recording agreements; publishing agreements; management agreements; producer agreements; featured artist and other contributor agreements; and general music work, predominantly acting for new and emerging or established talent and also entrepreneurs and entertainment businesses.

The new artist team provide legal and commercial advice to the best talent and entrepreneurs in the entertainment business. The new artist team’s clients are regularly winning awards, and 4 of the 5 “New Artist” nominees at this year’s Brit Awards were Russells’ clients. We are exceptionally proud of our clients and dedicated to the work that we do for them. We are seeking a dedicated lawyer with strong drafting skills and broad commercial and legal knowledge to work across several partners’ and associates’ clients, predominantly working with talent. We require a demonstrable history of work in the music industry or, for an exceptional candidate, a demonstrable passion to use legal skills already honed from another industry to provide legal and commercial support to new and established talent.

If you are interested in being considered for this position, please send your CV to Simon Jordan by email to: simon.jordan@russells.co.uk.

Commercial Music Paralegal - New Artist Team

We are looking for a paralegal to join our commercial music team, in the new artist department.

The work will entail supporting the associates and partners in the new artist team with the drafting and negotiation of: recording agreements; publishing agreements; management agreements; producer agreements; featured artist and other contributor agreements; and general music work, acting for both talent and businesses.

The new artist team provides first class training and opportunities for progression for dedicated individuals that show the necessary aptitude and skills.

The new artist team provide legal and commercial advice to the best talent and entrepreneurs in the entertainment business. The new artist team’s clients are regularly winning awards, and 4 of the 5 “New Artist” nominees at this year’s Brit Awards were Russells’ clients. We are exceptionally proud of our clients and dedicated to the work that we do for them. We require that our paralegals have completed a law degree or PGDL (or any equivalent qualification) and have demonstrable passion not just for music but to provide legal and commercial support to new and established talent.

If you are interested in being considered please send your CV email to Joanne Cocozza on joanne.cocozza@russells.co.uk. The closing date for applications is 4 April 2025.

Vacation Scheme Placement 2025

In July 2025 Russells will welcome four participants to take part in a week-long programme to experience life as a Russells' lawyer.

The Vacation Scheme is an idea which originated from the Diversity and Inclusion Committee. As such, there is an emphasis on seeking out aspiring solicitors from all backgrounds. The long-term vision is to see suitable participants of the Vacation Scheme recruited into paralegal and training contract roles and, beyond that, to become future Partners. This has already resulted in two of our 2023 and one of our 2024 intake being offered positions within the firm!

The successful applicants will experience life in two departments across Music, Commercial, Corporate and Litigation; one "seat" will have a litigation focus and the other a commercial focus. In addition to experiencing work inside a busy media and entertainment firm, there will be opportunities for learning and developments as part of our "masterclass" workshops and for social activities with the other participants and the wider firm.

The placement will take place at our offices during the week commencing 14 July 2025 and each participant will receive £427.35 for the week.

Application Process

Please apply by downloading and completing the application form and send that to us together with a copy of your CV for the attention of Joanne Cocozza: joanne.cocozza@russells.co.uk. You can find a link to the application form here. The deadline for applications for the 2025 placement is 11 April 2025. All applications will be reviewed once the deadline has passed.

Please note we do not accept CVs, covering letters or applications sent by post. Only information on the application form will be considered. If your initial application is successful, you'll be invited to undertake an interview which will take place over a video-conferencing facility.

We do recommend that applicants are in either the penultimate or final year of a degree or currently undertaking (or have completed) the GDL or LPC/SQE, but if you don't meet those criteria and there are circumstances as to why we should consider you, there's an opportunity for you to include this information in your application.

Training Contracts

Russells accept applications for Training Contracts between January and September in any one year for a commencement date September two (2) years thereafter. For example applications for a Training Contract commencing September 2026 need to be received by end of September 2024. The period for applications for 2026 is now closed.

Therefore, at the appropriate time, please apply by downloading and completing the application form using the link below and send that to us with a copy of your CV for the attention of Mark Sinnott by email to: mark.sinnott@russells.co.uk

Download Our Application Form

Please note that during the interview and evaluation process we may take the view that it would be beneficial that the candidate is engaged by us initially in a paralegal capacity with a view to subsequently converting such paralegal position to a training contract subject to satisfactory performance. In such case full details of such arrangement will be discussed with the candidate at the time.

Opportunities for Paralegal Positions

Although we are not currently actively recruiting for this role, we do from time to time take on Paralegals. If you are interested in being considered should a vacancy arise please send your CV and a short covering letter via email to Mark Sinnott on mark.sinnott@russells.co.uk. We will retain your details on file and may contact you in due course should an opportunity arise.