Last month the Department for Business Innovation and Skills published guidance for its Trailblazer apprenticeship in law scheme, which will offer an alternative route into the profession for apprentices who will be able to qualify as chartered legal executives, solicitors or paralegals.
But even before the scheme comes into effect next year, a number of firms have already blazed a trail in this area, with many firms recruiting school leavers as legal apprentices with the aspiration that they will qualify as either legal executives or, more rarely, solicitors within the firm.