The Legal Cheek View
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With roots in Northampton, full-service commercial outfit Shoosmiths has achieved a considerable UK presence, with a spread of 13 national offices, as well as one European outcrop in Brussels. Focusing on its three core practice divisions, solicitor apprentices can expect to fill their boots with work across real estate, corporate and advisory services. Under these umbrellas, Shoosmiths boasts several practices including commercial work, banking & finance, IP, employment, construction, and EU & competition. A newcomer to the apprenticeship market, Shoosmiths hired its first cohort of four solicitor apprentices in 2024, based at the firm’s “gorgeous” Birmingham office. The firm is now recruiting solicitor apprentices only for its Leeds office.
The fine print of the Shoosmiths programme reveals that rookies will undertake a minimum of eight seat rotations over the course of the six-year pathway. Completing four annual seats in the first four years, apprentices will experience at least one seat in each of the firm’s three core practice divisions during this time. Shoosmiths reveals to Legal Cheek that rookies may also get the opportunity to go on client secondment to one of their lauded, big-name clients such as Volkswagen Group, in these first four years. Further, giving rookies a holistic view on the operation of the firm, we’re told it’s likely that recruits will gain exposure to the ‘non-legal’ side of the business. This means rookies could get some hands-on experience in the firm’s legal tech, projects & innovation, and risk & ethics teams.
Following classic solicitor apprenticeship structure, seasoned apprentices will join the graduate training cohort in year five. The Shoosmiths TC will see apprentices undertake four, six-monthly seats including at least one contentious seat (i.e. litigation/disputes) and one non-contentious seat (advisory or transactional).
On the studying side, apprentices will complete their law degree on a part-time basis over the course of the first four years, spending four days of the week working full-time and one day studying with BPP University Law School. In the final two years of the programme, seasoned apprentices will embark on the Solicitors Qualifying Exams (SQE), emerging as fully qualified solicitors by the end of the programme.
Taking a networking spin on their apprentice socialisation, Shoosmiths recruits will join the trainees in a free membership to the local lawyer-y networking circles. Boasting internal diversity networks for neurodiversity, sexuality and ethnic minority recruits, rookies can also hobnob and socialise with their communities inside the workplace.
This is the Shoosmiths profile for those considering solicitor apprenticeships. Students looking to apply for training contracts should check out Legal Cheek‘s main Shoosmiths profile.