Solicitor Apprenticeships (Level 7)
Solicitor apprentices progress legal matters and transactions, applying legal knowledge and commercial judgement to produce solutions which meet clients’ needs.
The programme brings together our longstanding legal apprenticeship expertise with the technical expertise of BARBRI, providing an alternative route to qualification.
- Our shorter-form solicitor apprenticeships are designed for law graduates, holders of a graduate diploma in law (GDL), those with CILEX level 6, Licensed Conveyancers and similar.
- Our longer-form solicitor apprenticeships are designed for non-law graduates, successful paralegal apprentices, those with CILEX level 3, Conveyancing Technicians, Licensed Paralegals and similar.
Benefits to your business
Solicitor apprenticeships can bring many benefits to legal firms and teams. For example, apprentices can:
- Build and apply learning, thereby enhancing QWE
- Give expert advice on legal transactions
- Represent and assist clients
- Bring different skills and approaches that complement the traditional qualifying route
- Provide a talent pipeline, with solicitors completing within 18 or 35 months
- Increase diversity.
The Damar Difference
We work in partnership with our employers to deliver apprenticeships with long-term impact. Some key features of our solicitor apprenticeships include:
- Only level 7 solicitor apprenticeship built specifically for the SQE
- Underpinned by BARBRI’s AI-powered learning platform that flexes content and questioning to shore up weaknesses and develop strengths
- Supported by Damar coaches with previous experience as solicitors
- Apprenticeship builds and applies learning, enhancing QWE
- Three high-quality pathways provide different entry points for different backgrounds:
- Shorter (18-month) apprenticeship for those already working in legal jobs and who hold a law degree, Graduate Diploma in Law, CILEX level 6, licensed conveyancer qualification
- Longer (35-month) apprenticeship for those who hold a non-law degree, paralegal apprenticeship, CILEX level 3, convenancying technician / licensed paralegal qualification or similar
- 5-year pathway for A-level leavers and non-graduate legal administrators, includes 2-year paralegal apprenticeship with Damar followed by 35-month solicitor apprenticeship
- Allows the creation of a truly inclusive solicitor apprenticeship programme for new and existing colleagues.
“We have been particularly impressed by the structure of the course and methods of delivery, which seem to allow a lot of flexibility for the apprentice, whilst also providing a good level of support and guidance.”
Fiona Anthony
Practice and Professional Development Manager
nplaw
Apprenticeship delivery
Apprentices benefit from BARBRI’s SQE (Solicitors Qualifying Examination) intelligent online learning platform and our structured and supportive coach-led environment:
- BARBRI system: Apprentices have a detailed dashboard showing SQE1 progress and the likelihood of exam success, benchmarked against other students.
- Group workshops and strategy sessions: With experienced tutors to develop skills and exam techniques.
- 1:1 Coaching visit: Every six weeks the coach and apprentice meet to review progress, discuss personal development and sign-off completed modules.
- Activity briefs: Apprentices are set an activity brief linked to one or more competencies in the apprenticeship standard. This allows the apprentice to embed and contextualise their learning, and to build a portfolio of qualifying work experience (QWE) evidence.
- Review meeting: Every 12 weeks the coach, apprentice and line manager meet to review progress.
- Shorter-form solicitor apprenticeships: 18 months
- Longer-form solicitor apprenticeships: 35 months
End-point assessment and marking adds up to four months to the above on-programme lengths, depending on exam dates.
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.
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.
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.
Employer partners and apprentices are supported throughout the apprenticeship. The apprentice has a dedicated coach who provides 1:1 support, alongside the group coaching sessions and apprentice forums where they can engage with other appentices on the same programme. Review meetings with the apprentice, line manager and coach are held every 12 weeks. All of our employers also have a business development manager/executive they can contact at any time.
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.
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.
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.
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
Our solicitor apprenticeships start in September and March. Please get in touch for more information.