City law firm to welcome first solicitor apprentice cohort

Reading time: three minutes

Farrer & Co LLP is due to welcome its first cohort of solicitor apprentices in Autumn 2022, with The University of Law (ULaw) selected by the firm to deliver the academic programme aspect of the apprenticeship.

The firm’s solicitor apprentices will spend the first two years of the programme rotating across various business services teams to develop a sound understanding of the firm’s operations and priority sectors.

The following two years will be spent working and learning in legal teams (eg, paralegal style) before progressing into a trainee solicitor position for the final two years and undertaking the firm’s six-seat rotation before qualifying.

Applications for the solicitor apprenticeship programme close on Sunday 13 February, with successful applications joining the firm in September 2022.  

Katherine Wilde, director of knowledge, learning and development at Farrer & Co, said: “We are thrilled to expand our apprenticeship scheme by offering both solicitor and non-solicitor roles this year. Our aim is to develop well-rounded legal professionals who have a deep understanding of both our clients’ businesses and of the business of law. We have devised a scheme that mirrors the close collaboration between our business services team and our fee-earners, and that we believe will result in commercially astute solicitors who are able to deliver the highest quality service to our clients”. 

For a list of law apprenticeship vacancies, visit LCN’s apprenticeship vacancies page.

Professor Peter Crisp, pro vice-chancellor external at ULaw, said: “Students are at the heart of all we do. We strive to support our students with exceptional pastoral care, so are delighted to be working with Farrer & Co, a firm that is synonymous with the highest level of care and quality of legal advice and service. We look forward to supporting its trainees and solicitor apprentices as they develop commercial, personal and technical skills”.

ULaw is also set to deliver training and development opportunities to all of Farrer & Co’s future trainees in preparation for the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) before they join the firm for two years of qualifying work experience (QWE).

Find out more about the SQE and QWE via LCN’s SQE hub.   

Before the launch of this new programme, the firm has previously offered business services apprenticeships since 2017. There are currently apprentices working within its HR, finance, marketing and IT teams.

Katherine Farrell, marketing communications executive at Farrer & Co, was the firm’s first apprentice. Katherine completed her training in 2020. Speaking about her experience, she said “there was a heavy emphasis on personal development, identifying bespoke training needs and providing support in the form of vocal coaching and self-presentation training.”