• Shorter-form solicitor apprenticeship: 18 months
• Longer-form solicitor apprenticeship: 35 months 

End-point assessment and marking adds  around 4 months, depending on exam dates 

SQE study programmes develop and test knowledge.

SQE1 content and subjects tested:

• Business Law and Practice (including taxation) 
• Dispute resolution 
• Contract
• Tort
• The legal system of England and Wales
• Legal drafting
• Property Practice (including taxation)
• Solicitors’ Accounts 
• Land Law
• Trusts
• Criminal law and Practice

Ethics and professional conduct will be evidenced and examined throughout the course.

SQE 2 content and subjects tested:

• Client interviewing (and attendance notes) 
• Advocacy 
• Case and matter analysis 
• Legal research and written advice 
• Legal writing 
• Legal drafting 
• Criminal litigation (including advising clients at the police station) 
• Dispute resolution 
• Property practice 
• Wills and intestacy, probate administration and practice 
• Business organisations, rules and procedures (including money laundering and financial services) 

Development, application and evidencing of performance against each aspect of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s statement of solicitor competence. 

Working with their Damar coach, apprentices complete contextualised activity briefs that enable them to put their learning into practice at work and build robust evidence of qualifying work experience (QWE). 

Additional content in longer-form solicitor apprenticeships: 

• Foundations of English law course at the start to ensure that all apprentices have a core understanding of legal principles. 
• SQE content is delivered over a longer period, with additional coaching support – because these apprentices have further to travel. 
• “Preparation for Practice” content ensures that apprentices develop the wider business and practice skills that they will need. 

The form of assessment and required standard are as for all solicitors qualifying via the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). 

• SQE1 is completed during the period of on “on programme” learning.  
• SQE2 is the end-point assessment for the solicitor apprenticeship.  

SQE1 must be successfully completed before SQE2. 

All solicitor apprenticeships embed the functional use of maths and English as well as personal development topics in areas such as equality and diversity and British Values. Apprentices unable to evidence maths and English at GCSE level 4 or above may need to take functional skills exams as part of the apprenticeship. Additional training is provided if necessary. 

People of all ages and educational backgrounds can undertake apprenticeships, but there are some restrictions, the most important of which are: 

• The employer and the training provider must ascertain that the apprenticeship will allow the individual to gain substantive new skills.  
• The apprenticeship must align with the skills needs of the apprentice’s role. 
• The apprentice must be employed, usually for 30+ hours a week, and work more than 50% of their time in England. 
• All apprenticeships must take at least 12 months with apprentices spending a minimum of 6 hours per week in off-the-job training. NB: solicitor apprentices can be expected to need 8 to 9 hours a week of off-the-job-training time. There is more on how we maximise the benefits of off-the-job training here: https://damartraining.com/news/2023/so-what-is-off-the-job-training/. 

Our solicitor apprenticeship programmes are designed as progression routes which means that the following additional eligibility criteria apply: 

• For the shorter-form programme, applicants must have been employed in a law firm (or in-house) for 30+ hours per week, for at least 6 months prior to enrolment, and have either a law degree or graduate diploma in law (ideally within the last five years) or other relevant legal qualifications at a similar level (e.g., CILEX L6 or Licensed Conveyancer). 
• For the longer-form programme, applicants must be employed in a law firm (or in-house) for 30+ hours per week and have either a non-law degree or have successfully completed a paralegal apprenticeship. or similar (e.g., CILEX L3 or Conveyancing Technician) 
• We do not want to restrict access for exceptional candidates – please consult our team. 
• In all cases, candidates must have at least 5 GCSES (or equivalent) at grade 4 or above, including maths and English. 
• LPC graduates are ineligible as they do not need 12 months of study to prepare for SQE2.   

If your annual UK wage bill is over £3 million, the cost of training can be funded via the Apprenticeship Levy. We can help you navigate your Apprenticeship Service account to access this funding. 

If your annual UK wage bill is below £3 million, the government covers 95-100% of the training costs.

For apprentices aged up to 21, the apprenticeship is fully government-funded*. For apprentices aged 22 and over, the apprenticeship is 95% government-funded*. These new funding rules are applicable to apprentices starting from 1 April 2024.

*Please note: Some apprenticeships have accreditation costs which are not eligible for government funding

Apprentices can progress into Damar’s solicitor apprenticeships from a wide range of prior qualifications. These include (but are not limited to): the paralegal apprenticeship standard, Level 3 CILEX, Level 6 CILEX, law/non-law degrees, and CLC conveyancing qualifications.  

As a qualified solicitor, further progression and cross-qualification is possible, for example to partnership (private practice) or general counsel (in-house), judicial roles and, via cross-qualification, to the Bar. 

Our solicitor apprenticeships start in September and January. Please get in touch for more information.