Dawn of a new retention rate?

On 3 September, the government announced five new apprenticeship standards for law. These range from apprenticeships for paralegals to apprenticeships leading to qualification as a Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) lawyer, licensed conveyancer, or solicitor. With significant changes taking place in legal practice, the aim is to have new learning pathways to align current and future skills with the requirements of modern law firms. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) says this will drive up quality and improve access to the legal profession. 

Contextualising studies

In a pilot programme with the Greater Manchester Chamber ?of Commerce and the employer skills group of local firms, Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) has been delivering legal apprenticeships since 2013.  Slater and Gordon, Horwich Farelly, Davis Blank Furness, SAS Daniels, and Stephensons Solicitors are all engaged in the initiative.

The apprentices are employed on a full-time basis within the business and their legal knowledge, skills such as research and client communication, and competence are assessed in the workplace. They also undertake exams in core subject areas. This enables apprentices to contextualise their studies with real-life experiences and put theory into practice. 

There is financial support from the government for these pathways. Employers are eligible for 100 per cent government funding for training employees aged 16–18 and 50 per cent funding for 19–24-year-olds, which could be an incentive for further employer engagement in the schemes.

Impact of the current provision

The UK’s first advanced legal apprentices completed their training this summer. Forty of the 300 national pioneers qualified with MMU and celebrated their success at a special graduation ceremony ?in July.

Most employers have chosen to retain their apprentices and give them permanent contracts and promotions. This is a testimony to the value of the programme for the businesses, and for the apprentices themselves. 

One apprentice, Emily Hemlin, qualified as an advanced legal apprentice with Slater and Gordon. She has been promoted to a paralegal in the family team and will now go on to further study. She has had hands-on experience of practice during her apprenticeship while receiving teaching and support at the university, which led her to her new role. 

So, despite recent headlines suggesting that apprenticeships are merely low-pay and low-skill training schemes, the apprenticeship programmes in law have, so far, produced a gateway into the legal profession and also a way of meeting a business’s needs.

‘The success of the initiative in Greater Manchester proves that apprenticeships do have a legitimate place in the legal profession and that they offer a very credible alternative to the university route to those students considering a career in law,’ says Chris Hoskin, a regional development officer for CILEx.

The outlook

But, what of the much more ambitious level 7 solicitor apprenticeship (a five-year qualification given to school leavers aged 18, leading to qualification as a solicitor)? Our experience has shown that this qualification is a steep learning curve for a school leaver, who experiences full-time work for the first time, while learning, with only four to five weeks’ holiday per year, compared to the school holidays. 

Certainly, the success of the level 3 advanced apprenticeship programme bodes very well for the new apprenticeships in law. Our apprentices have made a positive impact in the workplace, demonstrating that important roles in the business can be filled by young school leavers. ?The apprentices themselves are pioneers for others, illustrating that an apprenticeship in law can lead to nationally recognised qualifications and a career in the legal profession.

There is further significant change on the horizon with the SRA consulting on the pathways to qualification as a solicitor. ?Its preferred option may remove the need for a qualifying law degree (or graduate diploma ?in law) and abolish the legal practice course and training contract as we know it. The timeframe for implementation ?of these changes is 2018. ?So, the introduction of the solicitor apprenticeship is just one part of the revolution in the means of becoming licensed as ?a solicitor. These are exciting times to be involved in such huge changes taking place in legal education. SJ

Jackie Panter is associate head at Manchester Law School, Manchester Metropolitan University @jackiepanter www.law.mmu.ac.uk