Deloitte's legal arm has stepped up its assault on the sector by launching a graduate-level training contract starting in September next year.

In addition, the Big Four firm announced it will also take on legal apprentices as part of its firm-wide BrightStart apprenticeship programme.

The graduate training programme, designed in collaboration with the University of Law, aims to prepare applicants for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE), the incoming solicitor qualification confirmed last year by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Training contracts will last three years, with the first cohort starting in September 2020 and qualifying in 2023. Applications for next year have already opened, the firm confirmed.

SQE training contracts enable law students to take up their place straight out of university, allowing students to gain qualifying legal work experience before sitting their SQE 1 and 2. This differs from the current arrangement, where trainees do not take up their place until after they have completed an additional year studying the Legal Practice Course.

According to the announcement, trainees will experience working in a number of Deloitte Legal's areas of practice, including tax litigation, employment and corporate and commercial law.

The latest move by Deloitte follows other significant growth plans as it looks to grow its legal arm further. In November 2018, Deloitte launched a 25-lawyer law firm in Hong Kong, while earlier this year the firm announced a US partnership with Epstein Becker.