City firm Norton Rose Fulbright is to introduce a new graduate scheme that will run in parallel with its traditional training contract.

The two-year programme will be built around four six-month rotations in business solutions; commercial management; innovation; legal project management; and pricing and resource management.

A Legal Practice Course qualification is not required to join the programme, which is open to people with a law and non-law background. As with traditional solicitor training contracts, intakes will start in March and September next year.

Graduates who complete the scheme will be offered permanent roles, although the programme does not lead to qualification as a solicitor but instead to qualifications in other areas.

Martin McCann, partner and global head of business, said: ‘The delivery of legal services is transforming and the leading law firms know that their future success is linked to how they adjust the traditional model.’

The new graduate scheme sits within NRF Transform, the firm’s innovation programme. The firm said six spots are available in total (two in March and four in September). From 2020, placements will begin every September.

Norton Rose’s decision follows that of magic circle firm Allen & Overy, which earlier this year said it had set-up a graduate training scheme focusing on legal technology and project management.