Third cohort of legal apprentices for Bond Dickinson

National firm Bond Dickinson is recruiting its third batch of legal apprentices into its Plymouth office.

The latest annual recruitment cycle follows intakes in 2014 and 2015. The first batch of aspiring lawyers have already progressed through their advanced apprenticeship in legal services programmes and are being sponsored through further training with CILEx Law School.

Under the firm's programme, apprentices are allocated a supervisor and a mentor and begin their careers with administrative tasks before moving on to supervised legal work on files.

The apprentices' role develops as they gain experience and confidence in the workplace coupled with legal knowledge through their studies.

Sam Lee, head of recruitment at Bond Dickinson, said: 'The quality of training at Bond Dickinson is second to none. Well, that's certainly what our people tell us. Our supervisors are trained and fully supported on an on-going basis.

'There is a clear structure in place for our paralegals to progress from the entry level roles up to managing paralegal positions and, for those who want to, we support aspirations to qualify as lawyers.'

Jenny Pelling, business director at CILEx Law School, said: 'The fact that the apprentices from the original intake have all enrolled with us on further CILEx training is testament to the success of the scheme in nurturing talent and creating real career opportunities for these young people.'

Firms are continuing to place greater faith in developing new talent through apprenticeship programmes following the government's approval of apprenticeship standards for lawyers in 2015.

In February, global firm Baker & McKenzie unveiled a new scheme to provide six school leavers the chance to build a career in the legal industry.

The firm's inaugural legal administration apprenticeship programme runs in accordance with the intermediate apprenticeship in legal administration provided by CILEx.

Meanwhile, both Horwich Farrelly and Mayer Brown doubled their apprentice intake towards the end of last year.

Bott & Co, Hillyer McKeown, Rowlinsons, and Gamlins Law are further examples of firms that have laid stock in an apprenticeship route to qualification.