Trainee Registry Clerk (para-legal)

at  Batt Broadbent Solicitors

Hours: Full time – 5 days / week (35 hours)
Occasional out of hours work with time off in lieu
Salary: From £25,000 depending on experience
Holidays: 25 days + bank holidays (rising with length of service)
We are seeking a Trainee Registry Clerk (para-legal) to join our well-established Diocesan Registry team. You will be based at our Salisbury office on a full-time basis. This is an exciting opportunity to begin an interesting and varied career in ecclesiastical law as part of a friendly and collaborative firm. No previous legal experience required.
Batt Broadbent Solicitors LLP is a two-office firm based in Salisbury and Chippenham. The Diocesan Registry is a small team based in Salisbury, consisting of two lawyers and three clerks, and serving the clergy and office holders of three Church of England Dioceses (Salisbury, Winchester and Portsmouth).

The role of Diocesan Registry Clerk suits an agile and curious mind, able to focus in on the details while keeping the bigger picture in mind.
The work includes processing and preparing paperwork in relation to the Faculty Jurisdiction (which is the overseeing of repairs and the development of churches, churchyards and consecrated places). Also, preparing and administering the bishop’s paperwork relating to ordinations, appointments, authorisations and marriages. Creating, filing and retrieving information about a range of interesting topics.
Working with the support of the legally-qualified Registrars, you will learn how to respond to queries about marriage law, burials, churchyards, the appointing of clergy, consecration of churches and churchyards, the faculty process for church buildings, church governance, clergy terms of service, pastoral re-organisation and legal requirements in relation to worship and liturgy.
As your confidence and experience grows, you may contribute to the training of clergy, churchwardens and parish staff, with occasional out of hours work.