February 2026 Issue: An Introduction to Legal Apprenticeships

Anya McNally

Solicitor Apprentice

Weightmans

In light of celebrating the newly qualified, it's important to talk about the large variety of routes to qualification that are now widely enrolled across England and Wales. Legal apprenticeships were introduced in 2016, gaining more popularity upon the introduction of the SQE in 2021, and have since been adopted by the vast majority of firms nationwide.

Paralegal apprenticeships consist of the first two years of the six-year solicitor degree apprenticeship, and offer an accessible route to paralegal qualification, often with more lenient grade boundaries and entry requirements than the six-year programme. Many paralegal apprentices will also be given the option to progress onto the latter four years of the solicitor degree apprenticeship following it's completion.

Solicitor degree apprenticeships are highly competitive, with many firms often receiving thousands of applications with fewer than ten job offers available. The apprenticeship route has been praised as a great option for social mobility, drawing the attention of many aspiring solicitors from working-class backgrounds like myself due to the education funding, competitive salary and six years of work experience prior to qualification.

M y own experience of legal apprenticeships began when I was offered a L7 Solicitor Degree Apprenticeship at 17 years old. Like many degree apprentices, I then entered the profession straight from school and was able to immediately gain experience in practice alongside studying for my LLB.

I'm now over a year into my apprenticeship and have extended my seat in the police claims team at Weightmans, where I work alongside some of the top police lawyers in the country and assist on a variety of matters to build up my professional portfolio.