The Times quotes Karen Stages on solicitor apprenticeships
min readNewly released figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) show that apprentices are outperforming other candidates seeking to qualify as solicitors.
The figures revealed that for the more than 100 apprentices who sat the solicitors qualifying examination (SQE), pass rates were on average 26 per cent higher than their counterparts who had done the academic course.
Karen Stages, Director of HR, comments for The Times. See some of her thoughts below:
“We have been offering apprenticeships for six years, and this year actually marks the year that our first cohort will qualify as solicitors. They sat SQE 1 in June 2022, and all scored within the top quintile of candidates."
“We’ve seen a greater diversity of applicants come through this route, particularly in respect to social mobility indicators. As well as the more obvious benefits of earning a salary and having university fees paid for, all while studying, some of the other benefits our apprentices enjoy include rotating through a broad range of teams, accelerating both their academic understanding of the law plus the practical application. Our apprentices complete a range of transactional, contentious and advisory work within their first four years before building on this knowledge in more specialist groups. Development goes beyond legal skills and, through our wider development programmes, we ensure that apprentices develop the ability to think commercially as well as legally, as well as hone their professional skills. They can also get involved in client and international opportunities – one of our apprentices has just returned from Dubai, for example."
“...a 6-year apprenticeship is a sizeable commitment and requires candidates to fully understand what is involved and whether the role suits them. An advantage of the university route, by comparison, is that it allows more time for people to research and consider their future career.”
Read the SRA news release here.
Read the full article in The Times here.
