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Call now - In a recent report by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills the government has called for law firms to offer further routes into law at a non-graduate level to further grow the UK legal sector which is currently worth over £150 billion (annual). Within this report the government, along with a number of private sector professionals have urged law firms to offer further opportunity’s for school-leavers within the legal and accounting sector with the aim to fill 600,000 new jobs within the next ten years.
While Aston Bond is an increasingly professional law firm we have also continued to innovate and to offer further innovation in our services. We have found our work experience and apprenticeship colleagues of huge value to our business and our clients and have taken on three in the past month. The report, published last week, highlights the need for further encouragement into the legal sector for the young with many fearing both the financial worries and time span of higher education with tuition costs rising.
With the PBS sector of businesses currently employing over four million individuals across the UK and this is set to rise by over half a million within the next ten years. The need for further encouragement is clear; however, with the sector becoming increasingly competitive many students are under increasing pressure.
The report, which sets these targets out, then goes on to highlight that Weightmans LLP became the first law firm to offer the new undergraduate level Higher Apprenticeship within the legal sector; this allows candidates to obtain paralegal qualifications while working full time at a law firm. The government are keen to push this form of education across the board and further grow the UK legal sector.
However, in order to gain the qualifications to enter the legal sector it can often take 24-30 months as part of an higher apprenticeship (non-graduate). However, this is both a more limited time and lower cost alternative to graduate education; it also allows a hands on approach to dealing with clients from the early stages of an individuals career.
Ashton Hudson, Online Marketing Executive
