BT has revamped its trainee lawyer recruitment programme, opening it up to external candidates.

The telecoms giant launched the graduate law programme last month, replacing its trainee solicitor programme, which was only available to existing company employees.

The new scheme, which will have an initial intake of five trainees, will form part of BT's wider graduate trainee programme.

Law graduates accepted on to the scheme will work with the legal department while completing a three-year course. The company already has six trainees on the current programme and existing BT workers will still be able to apply for the new scheme.

As part of the programme, trainees will take seats in four areas of law. Litigation will be mandatory but other than that, trainees can choose between commercial, antitrust, major deals, employment or corporate for their other seats.

Miles Jobling, director of transformation and head of legal for litigation and employment, said: "I am hoping that this is something that can grow and give us a stream of excellent young lawyers."

Jobling said that the company would not have any difficulty attracting prospective lawyers away from private practice and into a career in-house.

He said: "It has been open for two weeks and we have already had in excess of 100 applications. We are not anticipating having any difficulty getting people to start their careers in-house. It appeals to people who want something different.

"If the programme is successful we are open-minded about expansion, including the idea of rolling the scheme out overseas."

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