Legal

Overview

Over the last decade, the Legal Directorate has been at the forefront of supporting the Bank in its response to a range of significant domestic and global events, including regulatory reform following the global financial crisis, the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU, the coronavirus pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and risks posed by financial institutions (such as the failure of Silicon Valley Bank).

If you would like to join our award-winning team, please read on to find out more about us and our current opportunities.

What we do

We support all policy areas and key statutory committees of the Bank of England, including the Prudential Regulation Authority. We enjoy regular engagement at the very top of the organisation. 

We work closely with legal teams in other central banks, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Treasury.

Many aspects of our work will be familiar to you. They include financial services regulation, bank and payments, due diligence, insolvency and restructuring, litigation, employment, contracts, procurement and data protection. 

Other aspects may not be so familiar. They include the supervision of banks, insurers and market infrastructure, as well as our activities as the UK's central bank.

We aim to do as much of our work as possible in house. This means the breadth, depth and complexity of the legal issues we handle are very unusual for an in-house function. 

One day is rarely the same as another. Some examples of our work include:

• advising policy committees on effective decision-making in a public law context
• enabling the launch of a new banknote or lending scheme, such as the Emergency Liquidity Assistance and the Resolution Liquidity Framework 
• supporting colleagues with corporate governance, data protection, use of data and technology, and employment matters
• advising on the effect of new technologies on payments, digital assets and the future of money
• drafting rules or binding technical standards
• investigating rule breaches by firms and individuals, and building and preparing enforcement cases

Join our team

We welcome new colleagues with legal experience in any of the above areas. We also welcome those who may not have any directly relevant experience but are seeking a new challenge. 

Our team comprises about 165 colleagues from the private and public sectors, and from many different countries and backgrounds. 

We do not expect you to be an expert across all aspects of our work. When you join our team, we will give guidance and support you every step of the way. 

What we all have in common is the pride we share in our strong commitment to the Bank's mission to maintain monetary and financial stability for the good of the people of the UK. 

It is an exciting time to join us as we continue to support the Bank's work to strengthen the economy and financial system.

Much of the legal advice we give needs to take account of the public law context and we understand that this may be a new angle for you. Rest assured that you will have a thorough induction.

We are looking for new colleagues who are willing to learn quickly, engage openly and rise to the challenge. We share information and insights freely. We are collaborative, not competitive, and we do not need to record our time typically. 

Instead, we invest in our people and their careers. And we pride ourselves on our commitment to inclusive and supportive management. We will encourage you to try new things and develop a broad range of expertise.

How to apply

We advertise vacancies for qualified lawyers as they arise. Typically, we look for lawyers with one to four years' post-qualification experience (PQE), or four or more years' PQE for more senior positions.

If you are interested in joining us, see our current vacancies. If there are no suitable ones, please check back soon.

If you are at the beginning of your legal career, we offer a trainee solicitor scheme.

Search our vacancies

Trainee Solicitor Development Programme