Apprenticeship structure

Apprenticeship structure

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Apprenticeship structure

As a Solicitor Apprentice you will be immersed in our teams and experience a variety of work.

We know you want to get stuck in as much as you can. Our programme is designed to give you the depth and breadth of work whilst being supported by great teams.

You’ll spend four days a week working in one of our practice groups and one day will be allocated to study. For the first 4 years, you will spend a year in each practice group where you will be involved in many of the day-to-day tasks of a trainee lawyer. For the final 2 years, you’ll rotate practice groups every six months, in line with our Trainee Solicitors. Throughout your apprenticeship you will experience a broad range of our practice areas as you rotate through a variety of groups, including transactional, contentious and advisory groups.

Some of your key tasks as a Solicitor Apprentice may include:

Drafting documents and correspondence
Assisting partners and associates with various tasks
Liaising with clients, other law firms and third parties including Local Authorities, Companies House etc.
Conducting legal research
As you gain more experience, you’ll be given more responsibility such as attending client meetings with your supervisor, drafting blog style posts and running parts of files

Training & Support

We provide you with the best training possible. This could come in the form of on the job training with your supervisor, or more formal training sessions through the Charles Russell Speechlys Business School – we have specific training courses aimed at our apprentices and trainees which focus on legal, commercial and office related skills.

In each group that you work in you will be assigned a dedicated supervisor who will work with you to ensure that you are developing the required skills and knowledge and will also assist you with your portfolio. You will also receive support from the Early Talent team throughout your apprenticeship. You’ll meet with your supervisor and a member of the Early Talent team for a formal check in every 3 months to help plan and support your objectives and development going forward.

In addition to this, you will have a personal tutor at The University of Law who will meet you at regular intervals throughout the programme.

We also encourage you to get involved beyond the day-to-day work through our Responsible Business activities, whether that’s through our pro-bono practice, volunteering with our CRS Foundation, or getting involved in Diversity and Inclusion initiatives. You can find out more in our Responsible Business reports.

In the latter part of the apprenticeship, we also encourage our Apprentices to go on either a client or international secondment. This helps you build a wider skillset and see things from a client’s perspective or will enhance your international outlook by gaining exposure to work in a different jurisdiction. Secondments vary depending on business need, but our current client secondments include a private equity fund manager, a commercial bank, and an in-house commercial team for one of our large construction clients. Our international secondment opportunities include Private Client in our Swiss offices, or a mixture of practice areas in our Hong Kong, Dubai or Paris offices.

Your legal training will also be supplemented by our CRS Business School which has specific development programmes for each stage of your career, including the Ignite programme which is designed for Apprentices to build professional and commercial skills.

Salary & Benefits

You will earn a starting salary of £28,000 in London or £26,000 in Guildford which will increase as your progress through the apprenticeship programme.

You will also be entitled to the full range of staff benefits including: