Current opportunities
Job purpose
The Legal Engineer sits at the intersection of legal practice and technology. The core job is to understand how our lawyers actually work - where time is lost, where errors creep in, where a process could be faster or more consistent - and then translate that understanding into working solutions: modelled workflows, automated processes, and AI tools that fit the way legal work really gets done.
The role will involve spending time with fee earners across our practice groups, sitting in on how they handle a matter type, asking the "why do you do it that way" questions, and using what you learn to design and configure tools that lawyers will actually want to use. Where a solution proves its worth, you'll support the wider rollout: training users, writing guidance, and troubleshooting as it beds in.
This is a hands-on, builder's role. You don't need to be a qualified lawyer or a professional software engineer - but you do need genuine curiosity about how legal work happens, and the practical skill to model that into a working tool.
The team
The Innovation department is a small, firmwide team working to make legal work faster and better for our lawyers and clients. We spend as much time in conversation with fee earners as we do building - understanding where their processes create friction, then designing / procuring and implementing the right tool, workflow, or automation to fix it.
Duties and responsibilities
This is not an exhaustive list and from time to time it may be necessary to vary these to meet the department and business needs.
- Working directly with fee earners and practice groups to understand their workflows, processes and pain points — through shadowing, interviews, and process mapping.
- Translating those workflows into structured logic: decision trees, playbooks, templates and process maps that can be automated or supported by technology.
- Configuring and building solutions using no-code/low-code automation platforms, generative AI tools, and robotic process automation (RPA) to match modelled workflows.
- Designing and testing prompts for legal use cases, refining based on real fee earner feedback rather than assumptions.
- Running structured pilots of new tools with practice groups, gathering feedback and iterating before wider rollout.
- Delivering training and producing clear, practical user guidance for tools once live.
- Providing ongoing technical support and troubleshooting for AI and legal tech tools in day-to-day use.
- Liaising with external technology vendors on functionality and issue resolution.
- Monitoring adoption and usage of deployed tools, and feeding back what's working (and what isn't) to the Head of Innovation.
- Keeping across legal technology developments and emerging AI capabilities relevant to the firm's practice areas.
- Ensuring all tools and workflows comply with the firm's information security, Cyber Essentials and ISO27001 policies.
Person specification
Essential skills
- Bachelor's degree or higher, or equivalent demonstrable experience, in any relevant discipline (e.g. computer science, engineering, data, business); no formal legal qualification is required.
- Minimum of 2 years' experience in legal technology, legal operations, business/solutions analysis or process improvement; experience of legal technology specifically is ideal, but not essential.
- Genuine interest in how legal work gets done, with the patience and curiosity to understand a process properly before trying to fix it.
- Practical experience configuring or building solutions on no-code/low-code automation platforms or equivalent AI tooling.
- Hands-on experience with prompt engineering and/or generative AI tools in a professional context.
- Strong process-mapping and analytical skills — able to break a workflow down into its component steps and decision points.
- Excellent communication skills, confident asking questions of and training fee earners and partners directly.
- Able to work independently and flexibly, managing multiple concurrent projects to deadline.
Preferred skills
- Familiarity with RPA tooling and workflow automation platforms.
- Experience supporting technology pilots or vendor evaluations.
- Experience with a legal Document or Email Management System.
How to apply
If you would like further details or wish to apply for this position please email your CV and covering letter direct to support.recruit@devonshires.co.uk and complete the diversity monitoring questionnaire which can be accessed by button below.
All recruiters must submit their candidates’ CV via our HR team or using the recruitment inbox listed above. Only HR can agree terms of business with third parties, provide the appropriate privacy notice to be shared with candidates and ensure that the firm maintains its commitments to LEXCEL, ISO27001 and Equality Diversity & Inclusion.
Devonshires Solicitors LLP is committed to providing equal opportunities in employment and to providing a workplace free from discrimination and harassment. As such all job applicants, employees, partners and third parties who come into contact with us, will receive equal treatment, regardless of age, disability, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, trade union activities, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. We welcome applications from groups where we are currently underrepresented. For this reason, we ask that all candidates complete the recruitment monitoring survey in complete confidence for statistical purposes in order that we can effectively monitor how well our Diversity procedures are working. To review our policies on Diversity & Inclusion and Dignity at Work please visit our recruitment pages at www.devonshires.com.