An aspiring legal eagle can swoop up a golden opportunity to qualify as a solicitor with a Coventry and Warwickshire law firm without having to go to university.
De Marco Solicitors is creating a new role for an apprentice to support the firm’s expanding team of specialist solicitors – with the added incentive of working towards becoming a solicitor themselves.
The successful candidate will initially undertake a business administration apprenticeship before having the chance to progress to a full legal apprenticeship leading to a qualification as a solicitor.
The employment and business law firm, recognised in the renowned Legal 500, is taking on a business administration apprentice through Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber Training (CWT).
Sandra Garlick, Principal of De Marco Solicitors, is herself familiar with taking an alternative to the typical route into the profession having carved out a second career in law.
Sandra said: “I left school with three O-Levels and a CSE and went back to college in my 30s to gain my A-level equivalents. Within two years, I was studying law at the University of Warwick.
“I’m keen to enable someone who is educated to A-Level standard to fulfil their desire to develop a career in law who perhaps does not want to or cannot afford to go to university from school.
“The usual route to qualification as a solicitor is university but the country is flooded with graduates with high volumes of debt who are unable to secure a training contract with a law firm.”
Latest figures suggest that rising numbers of school leavers are choosing the workplace over university as demand increases for on-the-job training due in part to competition for university places and tuition fees of up to £9,000 a year.
Data released by the National Apprenticeship Service at the end of August showed that over 1.4 million applications had been made online for vacancies in the last 12 months, an increase of nearly a third year-on-year.
Sandra added: “This apprenticeship will give someone the chance to earn while they learn, have no student debt and the opportunity to qualify as a solicitor without the worry of securing a job at the end of their study.
“We’re excited to be investing in someone’s development as a lawyer and giving what we hope will be an ideal start to a high-flying career.”