School pupils in Wales interested in a legal career would pursue an apprenticeship if it was available, while nearly all law students at Welsh universities would have opted for the apprenticeship over a traditional law degree. These are some of the key survey findings published this week by the Law Society Wales office, which is urging the Welsh Government to fund Level 7 legal apprenticeships.
Students in England can pursue the apprenticeship route to become a solicitor but legal apprenticeships in Wales only go up to advanced paralegal.
Law students in Wales said training contracts and graduate roles were ‘extremely competitive and difficult to obtain’ whereas an apprenticeship ‘would open more avenues to secure a pathway into becoming a solicitor earlier on’ - and no student loan. Nearly two-thirds of law students wanted to stay in Wales after qualification, but many felt there were not enough opportunities.
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The report’s author, Dr Bronwen Williams, said: ‘Evidence has shown that aspiring Welsh lawyers are crossing the border to England to access apprenticeship funding and therefore Wales is losing out on its “home-grown talent”. Those students who have chosen to access the paralegal apprenticeship funding in Wales all want to qualify further and will face the decision to either self-fund or have to cross the border to access funds, again causing a loss of Welsh talent in the sector.’
Seven in 10 firms employed paralegal apprentices. Smaller firms did not employ apprentices. All firms said they would take on Level 7 apprentices if they could.
Urging the Welsh Government to fund Level 7 apprenticeships, Jonathan Davies, head of the Law Society Wales office, said: ‘With many of our regions in Wales having less than one solicitor per 10,000 residents, the Level 7 will help provide a much-needed boost for local access to justice by providing a pipeline of local talent into local law firms from diverse backgrounds.'
The report said the Welsh Government has demonstrated a commitment to vocational apprenticeships through initiatives such as Apprenticeships in Wales and Young Person’s Guarantee. ‘Expanding full funding to Level 7 solicitor apprenticeships would be a natural extension of these policies, reinforcing Wales’s investment in skills and professional development,’ the report said.
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