New four-year solicitor apprenticeship aims to de-risk training for City firms

The College of Legal Practice has launched a new four-year solicitor apprenticeship programme aimed at school-leavers entering the profession through employer-sponsored pathways.

As an alternative to the conventional six-year programme for apprentices without a degree, the shorter, full-online version will start in April 2026. The college says it is launching the four-year pathway as a way for firms to "de-risk" their investment in response to law firm feedback about completion rates and the length of study.

Those who complete the new programme will receive a Graduate Certificate in Law, a Level 6 qualification.

The benefit to firms

Apprenticeships have become a strategic route for widening access to the legal industry while securing early, long-term talent. One benefit to law firms of COLP’s new programme is that being fully-online it avoids the traditional "one day out of the office" model and reduces time away from fee-earning activity.

The new four-year pathway also positions firms to navigate the 2026 funding changes, which restrict government support to apprentices aged 21 and under. By shortening the route and focusing on school-leaver entrants, the programme gives employers a more cost-efficient way to continue using apprenticeships despite the upcoming age cut-off.

The SRA’s latest apprenticeship report also shows that apprentices outperform other candidates on the SQE assessments.

Apprenticeship momentum

The launch taps into a sharply rising market of "earn-while-you-learn" apprenticeship models, which have moved firmly into the mainstream across City and national firms.

More than 1,300 new apprentices started in 2023-24, according to the Law Society. A major draw of these routes is the ability to recruit more socio-economically diverse cohorts, an area where firms are becoming increasingly targeted.

City firms are also offering increasingly competitive salaries for solicitor apprentices. White & Case offers a salary of £32,000 for first-year apprentices, with the likes of Stephenson Harwood and A&O Shearman not far behind.

Social-mobility progress

Simmons & Simmons this year introduced a social-mobility target of 20% for its UK lawyers by 2029. Two years back, Slaughter and May announced its goal for 15% of its lawyers to come from lower socio-economic backgrounds by 2033.

Law firms have been making measurable strides in this area, now making up half of the top 10 organisations in the national Social Mobility Employer Index, which ranks employers on the strength of their outreach, recruitment and progression strategies for people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

The road ahead

But the model isn’t frictionless. Apprentices must juggle full-time work with part-time study, often entering professional environments years earlier than graduate trainees. As funding rules tighten and apprenticeship numbers rise, the next phase will test how well firms can embed these pathways into long-term workforce planning.