Apprenticeships have provided an effective way to meet the needs of the non-lawyer staff base in the delivery of legal services, says Jacqueline Panter
Ongoing changes to the current training regulations in the legal sector are fundamentally altering the routes to qualifying as a solicitor. An apprenticeship is one alternative route to the traditional graduate route to qualification. After passing the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) at the end of an apprenticeship, it will be possible to qualify as a solicitor. The standards expected of apprentice solicitors will be the same as those expected of anyone being licensed as a solicitor, with rigorous assessments before they are admitted to the profession. However, the number of law firms employing solicitor apprentices is small compared to those taking the traditional route to qualification. This is because of the uncertainty about ...
