East Anglian’s Ashtons Legal is to run a solicitor apprenticeship.

The firm is sponsoring one current employee through the six-year programme. Sarah-Jane Legge is currently working in the French legal team in the firm’s Bury St Edmunds office.

Ashtons is partnering with the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and City University to deliver the apprenticeship.

Apprenticeships

While a number of firms have embraced the paralegal apprenticeship, only of few have opted to run the full solicitor one so far. They include Eversheds, which announced its scheme in March and Kennedys, which launched its own last week.

City Law School senior lecturer Angela Jackman said: “We welcome Sarah-Jane as part of our first intake of solicitor apprentices and look forward to watching her development over the six years of the programme.”