News focus: Solicitor-apprenticeships breathe new life into the City

A recent chat with a City partner turned to the subject of solicitor-apprentices. He was glowing about the firm’s latest cohort, saying it was ‘nice to have some normal people in the building’.

The description might have been a tad patronising, but it got to the heart of what has been a quiet revolution in the legal profession. Solicitor-apprentices started out – for those few firms and in-house employers that took them on – as a curiosity, a nod to diversity and a bit of an experiment. They are now intrinsic to the fabric of the modern law firm, breathing life into traditional practices and being actively sought out by employers.

Take the response to the City of London Law Society’s City Century initiative. This launched quietly in December, with the aim of starting a network of firms to share best practice, tips on how to develop apprentices and gateways to finding the best potential recruits.

Fifty firms of all sizes signed up in the first four months, many of which had never take on an apprentice before. They were initially asked to confirm they would bring in apprentices by September 2025 but most want to start a year earlier. Around 15 firms pledged at first to take on 50 apprentices into the City of London each year but that number already looks set to multiply.

'Solicitor-apprentices are less likely to respect the hierarchy and they will tell us what we should be doing to make our organisations better. They bring such energy, but also they are prepared to ask "why are we doing it this way?"'

Patrick McCann, City of London Law Society

Patrick McCann, chair of the CLLS training committee, said the idea was to capture the firms who fell into the ‘too hard, don’t know and don’t have the people to run it’ category, and the response from the sector has been ‘extraordinary’.

‘There is a huge amount of momentum – the City was not working at the pace of regional firms who saw it as part of their business model, but that has changed,’ said McCann.

‘The main point is they are going to get really good talent who are appreciative, hard-working and entrepreneurial. For many they never considered coming into the legal profession but they have so much to offer.

‘Solicitor-apprentices are less likely to respect the hierarchy and they will tell us what we should be doing to make our organisations better. They bring such energy, but also they are prepared to ask “why are we doing it this way?”. I hear this from so many firms.’

Joanna Hughes runs her own company helping employers take on solicitor-apprentices. She believes they are now a ‘fundamental part of legal businesses’. The first cohort who started in 2016 will have qualified last September and firms now have tangible proof of how the scheme can provide an alternative pathway into the profession.

‘The 2016 intake are the best possible evidence for the success of this route into the profession,’ said Hughes. ‘This is partly because law firms and in-house legal teams now realise that solicitor-apprentices don’t just bring a diversity of thought, but also great energy and a talent for innovation, and partly because firms are starting to be asked by clients why they don’t have apprentices if they haven’t adopted this talent route.

‘Solicitor-apprentices go on client secondments as early as year two of their six-year apprenticeships. That speaks volumes.’

National firm Irwin Mitchell, which began apprenticeships for paralegals and business services in 2016, took on three solicitor-apprentices last year. That number rose to 10 in 2023. The continuity of recruits has been important, with 38% of the firm’s apprenticeship cohort currently made up of internal colleagues who sought to upskill.

Marissa Sanders, head of early years careers at Irwin Mitchell, said: ‘Our apprenticeship programme has been really popular with both external and internal applicants with people seeing them as a great chance to develop their skills. I think the number of solicitor-apprenticeships in the UK will grow rapidly over the coming years as the alternative routes to qualification are proving successful.’

Cliched it may be, but solicitor-apprentices are changing the face and nature of people training for the legal profession. They are candidates who were either so keen to get started in the law that they eschewed university, or they come from a background which meant they could not afford to take on the debts that come from years of study. This is not lost on those urging firms to take advantage of the benefits apprentices bring.

‘There is this massive acceptance that this is something we should be doing for the good of our organisations, for the legal sector and for society as a whole,’ added McCann. ‘We are pushing to open doors that could have been opened already.’