Trainee Solicitor

Belmond is pleased to advertise an exciting opportunity to join its Global Legal team as a Trainee Solicitor on a two-year fixed-term basis. This is a hands-on role supporting our global luxury travel and hospitality business on a broad range of commercial legal, operational, regulatory and strategic matters. The role offers exposure to live legal work across the global business, including commercial contracts, supplier arrangements, sales and marketing activity, partnerships, consumer law matters, and trade mark and brand protection work, while also providing legal operations, legal technology, knowledge management and contract governance support to the Global Legal team. We are looking for a proactive, intellectually curious and commercially minded trainee who wants to gain practical expertise working in a dynamic legal team operating at the heart of an exciting global business. This position is intended to provide the necessary Qualifying Work Experience necessary to become a qualified solicitor. SCOPE AND PURPOSE: The trainee will often be a first point of contact for legal queries and will be expected to triage requests, spot risk, ask sensible questions, exercise judgement and escalate issues appropriately. This is not a passive support role: the successful candidate will, with supervision, take ownership of workstreams, help improve legal processes and contribute to practical, business-focused legal support. MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Gain practical experience in contract drafting, review and negotiation, including how to balance legal risk with commercial objectives. Work closely with experienced in-house lawyers on live commercial matters across Belmond’s global business. Develop judgement in identifying legal, commercial, operational, brand and reputational risks. Help shape how the Global Legal team uses technology, templates, knowledge resources and process improvements. Work with internal stakeholders and learn how to translate legal advice into clear, practical guidance. Commercial contracts and legal advice Support the Global Legal team with drafting, reviewing and negotiating a range of commercial contracts, including supplier agreements, sales agreements, marketing agreements, partnership agreements, services agreements and NDAs. Carry out first-pass reviews of lower-risk contracts using Belmond templates, playbooks and guidance, escalating key legal, commercial and reputational risks where appropriate. Prepare clear summaries of key contract issues, proposed amendments and negotiation points for review by the Legal team. Help internal stakeholders understand contract processes, approval requirements and key legal positions. Support the development and refinement of contract templates, clause banks, guidance notes and negotiation playbooks. Legal Operations and matter management Manage central legal inboxes, triaging incoming requests and referring matters to the appropriate members of the Global Legal team with a concise summary, initial view on urgency and risk assessment where appropriate. Conduct due diligence and compliance checks, including reviewing supplier IT assessments and other onboarding materials. Keep legal matter trackers accurate, current and useful, helping the team monitor workload, priorities and progress. Keep accurate and comprehensive records of meetings, decisions and agreed actions. Effectively manage competing priorities and stakeholder expectations, escalating where timelines, risk or resourcing require senior input. Legal technology, process improvement and training Assist with the onboarding and ongoing training of legal and business colleagues on legal technology tools used by Belmond, including preparing training materials, running workshops and providing one-to-one guidance. Act as a first point of contact for ad hoc queries and troubleshooting relating to legal technology tools, escalating technical issues where necessary. Identify opportunities to improve legal workflows, document management, matter tracking, data analysis and reporting. Support the Global Legal team in implementing policy and process improvements, including clearer guidance for business stakeholders. Liaise with legal technology vendors to understand new features, resolve issues and help ensure the tools are used effectively. Support the creation and improvement of templates used within legal technology tools. Contract repository and knowledge management Organise, categorise and maintain Belmond’s contract database so that contracts are accurately recorded, easy to retrieve and useful to the Global Legal team and wider business. Support the migration of existing contracts to any new contract management tool, including data clean-up, categorisation and quality checking. Help develop and implement best practices for contract storage, retrieval and governance. Maintain and organise the Global Legal team’s knowledge resources, including Belmond contract templates, guidelines, playbooks and research materials. Proofread and check cross-references across Belmond contract templates and other legal documents. Work with the Global Legal team to update Belmond contract templates and Booking Terms & Conditions as needed. Monitor updates from Practical Law and other available legal resources and provide concise written or oral updates on legal developments relevant to the business. Conduct legal research on topics required by the Global Legal team. You will have: An undergraduate degree at 2.1 level or above (essential) A law conversion course or SQE preparation course (desired) Passed SQE1 (essential) and passed SQE2 (desired) or be eligible to qualify via the LPC transitional route A demonstrable interest in commercial law and the hospitality sector (essential) Some work experience in a commercial legal environment (essential) We are looking for someone who is: Intellectually curious and willing to learn quickly across a wide range of legal and commercial topics. Proactive, organised and comfortable taking ownership of tasks from start to finish. Clear and precise in written communication, with strong attention to detail. Commercially minded, with an interest in how legal advice supports business objectives. Confident asking questions, escalating issues and working with colleagues across different teams and jurisdictions. Interested in legal technology, process improvement and the future of in-house legal services. Reliable, discreet and professional when handling confidential or sensitive information. At Belmond, we pride ourselves on fostering a culture built on kindness, active listening, and genuine connections with our colleagues and guests. We offer a comprehensive range of compensation, perks and benefits including: Complimentary and preferred rate experiences at our iconic destinations Private medical insurance and dental plans Group pension plan 25 days of annual leave (excludes UK bank holidays) Lifestyle and employee assistance programs Onsite gym facilities