Partner Article

Fletchers Solicitors launches apprenticeship scheme giving students debt free route into legal career

Fletchers Solicitors has launched a new legal apprenticeship scheme, in partnership with The University of Law (ULaw), to offer aspiring lawyers an alternative route into the profession.

The six-year Trailblazer solicitor apprenticeship aims to give aspiring young trainees, who may have found the financial cost of a traditional university route a deterrent, the opportunity to have a successful career in law.

The scheme will allow students to learn on the job, whilst completing an undergraduate degree (LLB), a Master’s degree (LLM), and a Legal Practice Course (LPC) at ULaw, as well as a period of recognised training along the way.

Fletchers will begin recruiting for three apprentices in April and will be accepting applications from King George V College in Southport, as well as ones from internal applicants. Successful candidates will start work at the firm this September.

The firm already offers an extensive work placement, training, and apprenticeship programme, taking on over 20 students and apprentices per year, but this is the first apprenticeship that will lead to participants becoming a fully qualified solicitor at the end of it.

The new scheme enables students to qualify while earning a salary, which will rise at various stages of progression, meaning participants don’t have to pay for tuition fees and can, instead, earn while they learn.

Commenting on the apprenticeship programme Ed Fletcher, CEO at Fletchers Solicitors, said: “We’ve long advocated the investment in young talent, as part of our long-term plan to ‘grow our own’ people and harness talent within the firm that fits in with our core values. And what better way to do it than to grow this talent within the firm?

“I also think it’s incredibly important that we encourage diversity in the law profession – not everyone can afford the burden of spending years at university and not earning at the same time, so an apprenticeship is a great alternative.”

Professor Andrea Nollent, Provost and Chief Academic Officer at ULaw, said:

“We are delighted that Fletchers is grasping this new development opportunity for its current staff and future employees. We are confident that the practical nature of the programmes offered by The University of Law, alongside substantive work based learning, will deliver considerable enhancement to Fletchers’ future workforce.”

For more information, please visit www.fletcherssolicitors.co.uk and www.law.ac.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ursula Hutchinson .