The apprenticeship takes 6 years to complete. During your first two years you will work towards a Level 3 Paralegal Apprenticeship. Working as a paralegal gives you the opportunity to decide if a career in law is right for you.

You will then progress to a Certificate in Legal Practice, set at Level 4 (equivalent to first year university study). We require all apprentices to complete this initial stage before transitioning onto the solicitor programme. The Level 7 solicitor programme is a big commitment that enables you to achieve your law degree as part of the path to qualification.

Solicitor apprentices must pass the SQE assessment to qualify as a solicitor. The apprenticeship includes SQE training, as well as all assessments. At the end, providing apprentices pass the assessment and meet the SRAs character and suitability requirements, you will qualify as a solicitor.

How our solicitor apprenticeship works

As an apprentice, your training and assessments are paid for by the apprenticeship levy fund.

The solicitor apprenticeship is a full-time role. 80% of your time will be spent working for the firm and the remaining 20% dedicated to learning the following:

• Knowledge of core areas of the law, legal practice, and regulation
• Ethics, professionalism, and judgement
• How to process legal matters and transactions
• Methods of applying legal knowledge and commercial judgement to produce solutions which meet clients’ needs
• Deploying a full range of legal skills — including legal writing and drafting, case analysis, legal research, advocacy and interviewing and advising
• Commercial awareness

At the start of the apprenticeship, you will likely work closely with support staff to learn the key processes of the firm. You will then progress to providing general assistance to fee-earning staff. When enrolled on the Level 7 solicitor programme, you will work more closely the fee earning staff and undertake varying degrees of client work.

We take on 2 legal apprentices each year.