Norton Rose has joined a local community initiative to help London school leavers find work as part of a government push to combat rising youth unemployment in the capital.

The UK top 10 law firm is supporting a local Southwark initiative, working with the National Apprenticeship Service to take on an apprentice for the firm's in-house finance team.

The new starter joined the firm last month (31 January) as a cashier and will be employed for a 12-month period. During the period, the apprentice will take part in all internal training programmes for business services staff, as well as training provided by the firm's external third-party provider

Norton Rose has said that it will consider further apprentices from the scheme if there are suitable roles going forward within its in-house business services support teams such as finance, human resources, library and IT.

The apprentice scheme falls within the firm's diversity initiative, which is led by a committee chaired by firm chairman Stephen Parish, but is also monitored closely by the firm's HR department.

The initiative is part of National Apprenticeship Week, launched this week by London Mayor Boris Johnson and Business Secretary Vince Cable.

Meanwhile, the Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX) is also promoting its apprentice scheme, which aims to offer more flexible career routes into the legal profession. New UCAS figures recently revealed that only 20% of 115,000 applicants to study law in the UK were accepted.

ILEX chief executive Diane Burleigh said: "Going to university is not the only route to getting the career you want. ILEX offers aspiring lawyers the chance of an alternative apprentice route to get qualified whilst working in the legal sector. The practical business and client care skills they pick up whilst working are highly valued by employers, and so their career prospects are just as good as those who graduate from university."