Being a legal apprentice: view from the frontline

Like thousands of other sixth formers around the country, I reached a point where I had to make decisions about what I would do next. I applied for university, but struggled to find the burning desire to go and, out of curiosity, began to explore other possibilities. In June this year I responded to a vacancy for a legal apprenticeship at Withers in London and the rest is history (I promise that is the only cliché I will use in this article!).

Since September, I have had the opportunity to work on client matters in a research and document drafting capacity, particularly within the corporate team, but also more generally around the commercial department. I have been fortunate in having a mixture of project based work combined with a number of ad hoc tasks that I may be asked to do day to day (eg, completion bundles, scanning documents or drafting emails). In agreement with the firm, I have Wednesday mornings set aside to study for the apprenticeship qualification - I discipline myself to make best use of this half day every week. In addition, I have also started to get involved with marketing and business development events, which have boosted my understanding of the work the firm does and the sort of clients they seek to attract.

I have a strong support base departmentally, but also in human resources, who have made me feel very welcome. Indeed, one of the nicest things about my experience is how included I feel among paralegals and trainees. This is important not only for building close relationships within the firm, but also so that I have a group of people that I can ask for help on the little things that I may encounter in the office environment. Would a partner really want to be bothered by an 18 year old with a barrage of questions about how to use a photocopier or how to redact a document? I think not!

It was great attending a session put together by CILEx and hosted by Fieldfisher on 21 November. This was an opportunity for legal apprentices and trainee legal executives in the South East to exchange ideas and share experiences. I look forward to getting to know my contemporaries more in the coming months.

Legal apprenticeships are a new phenomenon and for Withers even more so. It is a privilege to be the firm’s first legal apprentice and I feel a great responsibility to make the best of the role and prove what I am capable of. In many ways, we (the firm and I) are learning together about how I can optimise my capacity and fit into the department. Withers is one of several firms leading on the Trailblazers in Law initiative, which the government has recently approved. This will formalize the legal apprenticeship route, enabling apprentices to work their way up to be paralegals, chartered legal executives and solicitors.

On 10 November my supervisor and I attended a reception at the House of Commons to mark the beginning of Professions Week. This event was a great opportunity to meet people who are passionate about ensuring that young people know about what opportunities are available to them when they leave school. We had the opportunity to meet an eclectic mix of individuals; from industry leaders and other ambitious young people like myself to providers of apprenticeships and those in the political arena. A highlight of the event were speeches made by Sarah Hathaway, chair of Access to the Professions and head of ACCA UK, and Dylan Valentine, who is a problem analyst at Fujitsu and a great example of how a career can be built through the apprenticeship route.

Apprenticeships undeniably form a crucial part of providing access to the professions, but also contribute more widely to solving the issue of social mobility that has become prominent in our society over several decades. I am sure that anyone reading this will agree with me that UK industries themselves must take the lead in promoting, investing in and demonstrating the benefits of apprenticeships in the 21st century.

In 2012 the findings of the Richard Report were published. Doug Richard’s key recommendations were that apprenticeships must be redefined, be more outcomes-focused and have greater emphasis on safeguarding. This led to a government consultation document on the implementation of the Richard recommendations, as well as another consultation that ran for several months in 2013 looking at the reform of funding apprenticeships. It will be interesting to see how the recommendations are implemented in the coming years. There is no doubt that provisions and opportunities for apprenticeships will be a key issue going into the general election next year for all the political parties.  

I am so fortunate to have the opportunity I have and look forward to welcoming future legal apprentices to the firm.

Alex Hirsh has been working as a legal apprentice at Withers LLP since September 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @alexdhirsh.