Legal Apprenticeships Open New Career Opportunities

Qualifying to become a solicitor can be a costly career path. For aspiring lawyers, the traditional costs of formal education and training can frequently be an obstacle to qualification. Discovering alternative routes to learning programmes opens the door to lower-cost possibilities and enriching hands-on experiences for those candidates seeking to accomplish the sometimes-difficult task of qualification.

Solicitor training is a critical link between formal education and qualification. Training programmes prepare law graduates and solicitor candidates with on-the-job experiences and training that establish the basis for practical skills and knowledge necessary to professional development. Among the many opportunities, apprenticeships provide non-traditional solicitor candidates and transferees from other careers with a viable path to new opportunities in the legal industry.

Apprenticeships are not a new or novel concept vis-à-vis professional training and development. After suffering from a decline in past decades, companies and trainees are rediscovering the mutual benefits that apprenticeships yield for both parties. In the legal profession, apprenticeship training is quickly becoming a popular course for transitioning from other careers or entering the field as a non-traditional candidate for a solicitor.

Two Kinds of Apprenticeships

Apprentice learning comes in different forms. In the legal profession, future solicitors can study legal practice in an apprentice capacity. Additionally, already qualified and soon-to-be-qualified lawyers may learn new business and management skills while studying as an apprentice in another field. In each case, candidates acquire new skills that can be applied to career development and advancement.

For those candidates seeking to qualify as solicitors, the Solicitors Regulation Authority conducts apprenticeship programmes that take five to seven years to complete. The programmes are frequently cost-effective and provide the necessary career development and skills training for new solicitors to achieve a high-level of competence in legal practice and procedures.

As firms diversify their practices, the need for lawyers with new skill sets in business and management is growing. Apprenticeships and cross-training opportunities provide lawyers with an alternative to going back to university to learn a new skill or career.

Rapid Changes Demand Adjustment

The legal industry is undergoing a period of rapid growth and change. The current state of the law in the UK demands that professional standards, training, and qualification procedures keep pace with expectations. As legal testing and qualification procedures yield to new paths to qualification, apprenticeships have become a prominent resource for new lawyers.

New regulations allow for solicitor training without a traditional law degree. Therefore, apprenticeships provide a valuable alternative route for developing legal knowledge and the procedural skills necessary to attain the qualification. The advent of new avenues to solicitor qualification has prompted many new opportunities to provide real-time experience to legal professionals.

Find the Opportunity that Fits

As the legal industry undergoes its modern growing pains to remain competitive, discovering new opportunities for learning and training can be a challenge. Rely on the professional career counsellors and placement specialists at Symphony Legal who know the legal industry and how to find the right apprenticeship fit for your needs. Our professionals have the experience and knowledge that helps solicitors achieve the training that leads to career advancement and new opportunities.