Northern giant’s new recruits will start this September
Addleshaw Goddard has teamed up with BPP Law School to become the latest firm to offer earn-while-you-learn solicitor apprenticeships.
The outfit, which offers around 30 training contracts annually, has today confirmed that it will embrace the government-backed Trailblazer programme that sees talented school leavers work towards an LLB in legal practice and qualification as a solicitor.
Taking six years to complete, Addleshaws’ newbies — who will be based at the northern giant’s transaction services team (TST) in either Leeds or Manchester — will juggle paralegal-level work with part-time undergraduate study, courtesy of BPP. Apprentices will go on to complete their Legal Practice Course (LPC) and then the professional skills course before eventually qualifying as a fully-fledged solicitor. To be eligible for the programme, students must have obtained at least ABB at A-level.
It’s still not clear how many apprenticeships will be up for grabs, nor what they will pay. Similar earn-while-you-learn schemes see students start on around £15,000 a year.
Commenting on the announcement, Mike Potter, head of the TST at Addleshaws, said:
As a firm, we are committed to redesigning the way legal work is done, and passionate about providing a different approach to attracting, retaining and developing great people. We see apprenticeships as an invaluable opportunity for harnessing talent.
Confirming that applications will open later this month, Addleshaws is now one of a number of top firms to offer alternative routes to qualification. Mayer Brown, Burges Salmon, Eversheds Sutherland and Fletchers have all either implemented, or are in the process of implementing, the Trailblazer scheme.
Next month the government will introduce a new apprenticeship levy. Impacting businesses with annual pay bills in excess of £3 million (most if not all large law firms), the levy can be recouped, in part, to fund vocational training.
It is the government’s hope that this will encourage firms across the country to snap up more talented school leavers. And judging by the spate of apprenticeship announcements in recent months, the incentive appears to be working.
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