Government calls on law firms to offer non-graduate routes into profession
The Government has called on law firms to help grow the UK's legal sector by opening up the profession to school leavers via apprenticeship schemes. The proposal is one of the key recommendations in a report published last week by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) that aims to boost the competitiveness of the UK's professional and business services (PBS) sector. The strategy was developed by the PBS Council, which is made up of representatives from Government and the private sector, including Will Lawes, Robert Elliott and Chris Mullen, senior partners of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Pinsent Masons respectively. The PBS sector currently employs four million people and is worth more than £150bn to the UK economy each year, equivalent to 11% of GDP. The legal and accounting sector makes up 22% of this figure.
July 18, 2013 at 07:03 PM
2 minute read
The Government has called on law firms to help grow the UK's legal sector by opening up the profession to school leavers via apprenticeship schemes.
The proposal is one of the key recommendations in a report published last week by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) that aims to boost the competitiveness of the UK's professional and business services (PBS) sector.
The strategy was developed by the PBS Council, which is made up of representatives from Government and the private sector, including Will Lawes, Robert Elliott and Chris Mullen (pictured), senior partners of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Pinsent Masons respectively.
The PBS sector currently employs four million people and is worth more than £150bn to the UK economy each year, equivalent to 11% of GDP. The legal and accounting sector makes up 22% of this figure.
The report – 'Growth is our business: a strategy for business and professional services' – predicts the sector will create 600,000 additional jobs over the next 10 years.
It calls for the opening up of new non-graduate employment routes in the sector, leading to a three-fold increase in the number of higher apprenticeships on offer.
Higher apprenticeships in the legal sector provide non-graduate alternative routes into law, with the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX) – a major provider of such programmes – typically requiring apprentices to train for 24-30 months before qualifying as legal technicians.
In March, Weightmans became the first law firm to offer the new undergraduate level Higher Apprenticeship in Legal Services, which allows candidates to obtain paralegal qualifications while working full time at the firm.
The development of higher apprenticeships was strongly backed in the recently published Legal Education and Training Review.
Other recommendations in the report include the establishment of a network of senior business envoys to champion UK capabilities and trade opportunities when overseas.
Click here to view a video from the National Apprenticeship Service which explores how Higher Apprenticeships in Legal Services are benefiting law firms.
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