Barking and Dagenham Council is to recruit two solicitor apprentices and one paralegal apprentice.
The solicitor apprenticeships will be delivered by City University and CILEx Law School, and the paralegal apprenticeship by CILEx Law School.
The council is targeting current A Level students in the borough’s schools with a view to recruiting them for a September 2017 start.
Barking and Dagenham is the first London council to recruit solicitor apprentices since they were launched in 2015.
Councillor Dominic Twomey, the cabinet member for finance, growth and investment, said: These apprenticeships offer local youngsters the chance to become professionally qualified, without the burden of debt that comes with the traditional university path. Now that the Council is paying the apprenticeship levy, it makes sense for us to draw down funds from our apprenticeship account to create these opportunities. I am delighted that we are the first in London to create this opportunity.”
Meanwhile, Taylor Wessing has launched a new apprenticeship scheme and will recruit two paralegal apprentices and two in its business services teams for September 2017.
The firm’s scheme will not ask that students attain three Cs at A level. Instead, Taylor Wessing is working with Spear – “an interactive programme which aids employment and career progression” – to recruit candidates who may not previously have been in a position to achieve academic success, but who demonstrate the ability and the desire to learn.
Legal apprenticeships: qualify as a solicitor without going to uni
