Company details

HEADCOUNT

100-499

ORG TYPE

Corporate

SECTOR

Professional Services

WEBSITE

http://www.sharpepritchard.co.uk/

About the company

Sharpe Pritchard is a UK law firm specialising in public law, working heavily with public sector bodies alongside private sector organisations interacting with government. The company highlights a long operating history and positions the work around high-profile public sector matters. Early-career routes are anchored around the SQE pathway, with additional entry points via paralegal hiring and paid internships. The company also publishes inclusion and social mobility activity that connects directly to entry-level access.

Locations and presence

Sharpe Pritchard is headquartered in London, with a hybrid working model that expects around one day a week in the office for full-time employees. The company’s client base and work appear UK-wide through central government and local authority coverage.

Palpable Score

78.3

/ 100

Sharpe Pritchard scores well because the company offers a funded SQE route with clear pay, publishes a structured selection process, and backs this up with visible induction and career framework detail. The main constraint is outcomes evidence: retention is stated, but there is limited public, trackable early-career progression data beyond examples and small-sample reviews.

Pillar 1: Early-career access

Score

16.7

/ 20

The company runs a defined SQE trainee solicitor intake with a published timetable (SQE study year then two-year QWE), which is a direct entry-level pathway.
Sharpe Pritchard advertises recurring paralegal opportunities and accepts speculative applications for paralegal entry, widening access beyond the trainee route.
The company links early-career access to paid opportunities through initiatives such as a six-week paid internship (10,000 Black Interns and related programmes) and structured work placements.

Pillar 2: Hiring fairness and transparency

Score

15.0

/ 20

The company lays out a three-stage trainee selection process (application review, cognitive reasoning test, partner interview plus written test) with clear timing cues.
Sharpe Pritchard routes applications through a dedicated portal and describes shortlisting inputs (including Watson Glaser results) rather than leaving selection opaque.
The company states reasonable adjustments are available for applicants and describes Disability Confident support, though some employee feedback flags inconsistency on salary-band transparency at junior levels.

Pillar 3: Learning and support

Score

16.2

/ 20

The company describes a bespoke two-week training induction at the start of QWE, including structured introductions to core and specialist practice areas.
Sharpe Pritchard publishes a career development framework with transparent role steps (trainee through to partner-level roles), which is a practical map for early progression.
The company mentions trainee secondments with clients and runs internal engagement structures (junior board, staff briefings, surveys), which supports on-the-job learning and feedback loops.

Pillar 4: Pay fairness and stability

Score

15.8

/ 20

The company publishes trainee pay for QWE years (starting salary and year-2 uplift) and adds an SQE maintenance grant plus paid course fees and assessments, which is strong early-career financial support.
Sharpe Pritchard lists a broad benefits set (holiday allowance, pension, medical cover, income protection, hybrid working), which improves stability for juniors once hired.
The company’s paralegal page describes “competitive salary” and bonus but does not publish a salary range there, which limits pay transparency for that entry route.

Pillar 5: Early-career outcomes

Score

14.6

/ 20

The company states “exceptional retention” for trainees and notes that several partners trained at the firm, which is a concrete internal progression signal.
Sharpe Pritchard’s published career framework (trainee to junior associate and onwards) gives a visible promotion path, but the company does not publish cohort-by-cohort outcomes or promotion rates.
The company has a small number of public employee reviews that are mostly positive about team support and hybrid working, but the sample size is limited and does not fully evidence 12–24 month early-career progression patterns.