Stick or Twist? The NQ guide for Solicitors to get your 1st move right.

You are in the final stretch of your training contract. The IPLS is done. Qualification is close. Now comes the question nobody quite prepares you for — how do you actually get the right first NQ role?

Alan Braithwaite, Managing Director, Abacus Careers www.abacus.careers

The team in Abacus has placed NQ solicitors in Northern Ireland for over twenty years. In that time, the candidates who land the best first roles share one characteristic: they scope the situation and assess options, earlier than others. Proactive, not reactive. This guide covers what you need to know as a trainee preparing to qualify — the decisions, the timeline, the CV tips and the practice areas. You have invested significantly in your academic journey and many will (and should) be grateful and relieved to get an offer to stay in the same firm. It’s a major and exciting vote of confidence in you!

For many trainees or recently qualified solicitors, it’s clear this demographic is under a level of financial strain that makes maximising their disposable income a genuine priority. The daily cost of essentials – commuting, lunches, a night out and taxis – is soaring. Never mind big ticket items – rent/mortgage, uni debt & interest, holidays, future wedding plans, childcare, family etc – it is alarming for many. But money should only be only one factor in your career choices.

1] First decision — stay at your training firm or move?

This is the question every trainee faces and most leave too late to answer properly. Here is the honest framework.

• Stay if: Head and heart.If the practice area is right, the team is good, there is a clear NQ role on offer, and you have had a direct conversation about your salary and career trajectory. Not a vague ‘we’d love to keep you’ and non-committal on the role – a specific conversation. If you enjoy working for the firm, are excited with the opportunity, the £££s are agreeable and confident the firm is investing in you, then all is good – give it 100%.
• Move calculation: the NQ role on offer is in the wrong practice area, the salary is below market, the progression path is unclear, the range of work is not developing you or the culture / team simply is not the right fit for the long term. It can be one or a combination of these but if you want to stick with it, then consider an internal discussion to find a solution. If that doesn’t work, then it’s worth exploring other options – but do not hand in your notice until an offer is agreed!
• Start looking before you decide: the most common mistake is waiting for the training firm to make an offer and then scrambling to evaluate it and enter the market with a lot more competition! Know what the market looks like before the offer arrives, so you can assess it with real data.

You should keep in mind a proportion of NQ roles may not be publicly advertised. They are filled through direct approaches, referrals and recruiters who know which firms are building their teams before any advert goes live. If you are only watching job boards, you are seeing a fraction of the actual market.

2] Which practice areas are in demand right now?

Based on Partner discussions and workstream demands, this is our current perspective across NI firms in mid-2026:

If your training seats do not match your preferred practice area, do not panic — but be prepared to make a clear, well-reasoned case for the switch. Firms hiring at NQ level know exactly what they are looking for, and a credible explanation of why you want to move practice areas matters more than the absence of a direct seat. Also, note that some firms describe practice areas differently — what one firm calls ‘commercial litigation’ another calls ‘dispute resolution.’ Always read the description on the website and review the team for insight.

3] Your NQ CV — what NI firms actually look at:

As a simple guide, your CV at NQ level should be 2-3 pages but put your focus on quality over quantity. Here is what NI hiring partners look at:

• Opening statement. Summarise your CV and career interest in the opening summary paragraph.
• Training firm and seat history. State your training firm clearly and list each seat with dates. Make this immediately visible — do not bury it.
• Client contact — however junior. NI firms give NQs direct client responsibility earlier than most. Any evidence of client-facing work during training — correspondence, calls, meetings — is worth including. If you are at the start of your training, document your experience each month, type of work, your role, people you meet. It will help with the CV down the line.  
• Academic record. Degree, IPLS result, any distinctions or prizes. After two years PQE this becomes less important — at NQ level it still matters.
• Interests/hobbies. Offer a glimpse of your personality and interests e.g. sporting success, travel, charity work etc; it could be a casual/warm interview ice-breaker.
• Specific matter experience. This is where most NQ CVs fall short. ‘Assisted with commercial property transactions’ tells a partner nothing. ‘Managed Land Registry applications and client searches across a caseload of thirty active files with direct client communication throughout’ tells them a great deal. Be specific about what you have been involved in. It can be a competitive process! More examples below:

4] What should you be earning – a NQ salary guide:

With increasing costs on employers (insurance, property, national insurance, training etc), it’s likely that some firms will make an initial NQ offer at or near the bottom of their internal range. Some may want to witness your future value before improving your base salary. But if there is room to negotiate, base your care on market data to do it confidently. Here is the current NI picture but note some higher salaries can be applied to premium areas of law e.g. corporate, real estate, healthcare:

The continued stream of UK national law firms in Belfast has certainly added heavier competition and deeper pockets to inflate some salary bands, especially as they add to their premium commercial services and teams. There is still a draw for some to work remotely or fully exit for jobs with London/GB/Dublin entities. And while, NQ salaries at many of Belfast’s larger commercial firms have risen, so has inflation. Some are struggling to realise a tangible uplift in disposable income so there is some interest in new opportunities to counter the ‘cost of living’ pressures.

If you are being offered below the lower end of the range for your practice area and firm type, that is a data point worth raising directly and calmly in your negotiation. But also factor in and attribute a value to other financial and non-financial offerings – such as bonus, free car parking, support for transport, pension, their investment in your training and ongoing support (can be priceless) and more.

It’s also critical to discover any useful insight about the firm (current or future prospect). Is there strong retention and a pattern of people staying and progressing, or high turnover at junior levels? Linkedin can provide a lot of insight on this! What do you know about the team and the supervisors or partners? Are they reputable? Is it an enviro where you can connect, learn and develop? This info can be invaluable.

For wider reading, our wider 2026 Legal salary guide is available here and you can also review information on a range of Total Rewards.

5] Questions that NQ solicitors ask most often:

These come up in almost every conversation we have with NI trainees in their final seats.

A final word…

The NI NQ market in 2026 is active and firms that want good NQ solicitors are genuinely competing for them — which means the balance of power in the negotiation is more in your favour than you might assume. Especially if you can demonstrate a commitment to a niche area of law.

The candidates who get the best first roles are not always the highest performers academically. They are the ones who know what they want, prepare early, and present themselves specifically and confidently. That is entirely within your control.

If you are in your final seats and would like an honest conversation about where you sit in the current NI market — what is available, what you should be expecting, and how to approach the next few months — get in touch. It costs nothing but a bit of time, so invest in yourself.