Taylor Wessing launches innovative new apprenticeship scheme

Taylor Wessing is launching a new apprenticeship scheme in September 2017, which incorporates a strong social mobility agenda.

The Pathfinder Programme will take on four new apprentices, two to train as paralegals and two to train within business services at the firm. The aim is to recruit candidates using PRIME’s criteria, so those who may not previously have been in a position to achieve academic success, but who demonstrate the ability and the desire to learn. The firm has worked with PRIME since 2011, but this new apprenticeship programme will retain candidates for at least the two-year training programme, and hopefully beyond that.

The firm will also use the Arctic Shores video game assessment – already used as part of the firm's trainee selection process – in order to avoid any unconscious bias affecting candidate selection

Dan Harris, diversity and CSR Manager at Taylor Wessing, said: "The legal profession has made real progress in many areas of diversity, but social mobility has stalled slightly in comparison. By using the PRIME criteria for our Pathfinder Programme, we are hoping to start affecting real change. Attitude and aptitude are key; this is about providing opportunity for people with the right outlook and ability, regardless of background."