A career feature shared by Italian Renaissance Painter Leonardo de Vinci, Jamaican Military Medic Mary Seacole, and British Contemporary Fashion Designer Oswald Boateng is that they all began their professions as apprentices. The apprenticeship route, to any given successful career, is an age-old tried and trusted methodology for producing brilliant practitioners. We have no doubt that our solicitor apprentices will grow to become outstanding lawyers at the cutting edge of the legal profession, they will be present, visible and eminent.
Leigh Day’s legal apprenticeship scheme offers an alternative route through training opportunities to qualifying as a solicitor.
There is an underrepresentation of qualified male solicitors of black Caribbean and/or African heritage working at Leigh Day and within the wider legal community. For this reason, Leigh Day is offering apprenticeships to enable male individuals from these backgrounds to qualify as a solicitor. Leigh Day believes that this will help to increase the level of participation of black Caribbean and/or African heritage in the solicitors’ profession and help male individuals from these backgrounds to overcome any disadvantages they experience in qualifying.
Because of the extent of the underrepresentation of male black Caribbean and/or African heritage in the solicitors’ profession, Leigh Day has decided to limit access to this scheme to male individuals from these backgrounds. We hope that this will enable those who successfully complete their apprenticeship to be put on an equal footing with others when applying for a role as a qualified solicitor in the future.
Solicitor Apprentice webinar
We hosted a live zoom webinar on Wednesday 19 August 2020 providing more information about the scheme, an opportunity to hear about the experiences of some of our current apprentices and to answer questions that have been submitted in advance.
The event was hosted by Gene Matthews – Partner, Human Rights/ Product Safety & Consumer Law, with talks from;
• Alika Lee-Crandon – Apprentice, Regulatory & Disciplinary
• Josephine Ijegbai – Apprentice, Clinical Negligence
• Dave Neita – People’s Lawyer and the People’s Poet
• Fran Swaine – Managing Partner, Leigh Day
If you were unable to join our live webinar, don’t worry, we have recordings of the event so you are able to view it at your convenience.Watch a recording of the webinar
Eligibility criteria
Please submit your application and cover letter to us by no later than 23:59 on Friday 4th September if you can satisfy the following criteria:
a) You are a male of black Caribbean and/or African heritage;
b) You have achieved 120 UCAS points or more (equivalent to BBB at A-level), or;
c) You have almost achieved 120 UCAS points but your personal circumstances may mean we can be flexible with the criteria. (See explanation below).
d) You have not completed a degree, in any subject; and
e) You are committed to joining Leigh Day as a legal apprentice in January 2021.
More information about the academic criteria:
Leigh Day recognises that diverse participation at all levels in the law is at the heart of building an excellent and equitable legal landscape. If the apprenticeship method of learning whilst earning on your route to qualifying as a solicitor sounds appealing to you then by all means you should apply.
Employers have not always recognised the challenging circumstances that many students face whilst pursuing their academic goals; furthermore, often these experiences are discounted when in fact they can be, by their very nature, character building.
We are open to consider and contextualise any unexpected or unfavourable scores together with such background experiences.
Please ensure that you complete the “extenuating circumstances” and “contextual information” sections of the application form, especially if you fall just short of 120 UCAS points, so you can be considered.• We accept all qualifications that are accredited to the UCAS tariff
• We accept equivalent overseas qualifications
• We welcome applications from those who have started but not yet completed a degree, for any reason.
Solicitor Apprenticeship scheme informationFor more details about our solicitor apprenticeship scheme, please download/ view our information booklet.
Salary progression and benefits
The starting salary for the first two years is £21,500 p.a. and will rise progressively to a level commensurate with a trainee solicitor salary by years 5 and 6.In addition to 29 days annual leave; here is a full list of benefits.
Making your applicationPlease download the application form, complete the requested details and covering letter (as a MS Word document) and return it to apprenticeships@leighday.co.uk by 23:59 on 4th September 2020.
We do not accept applications in any other format, including scanned/ posted hand-written applications.
Should you have any specific questions, please email the recruitment team at apprenticeships@leighday.co.uk.
Section 158 of the Equality Act 2010 applies to this scheme
Other opportunities
For opportunities that are open to all irrespective of background, please see www.leighday.co.uk