Solicitor Apprentice Review

As an apprentice, primarily I support my wider team. This means acting as a project manager, so day-to-day I come into the office, check my emails and make notes on progress across projects, host and attend meetings, do the first review/draft of documents and liaise with colleagues, clients and any other necessary people to obtain information needed to move forward on a project.

The degree into SQE course/training contract is set out in an organised and structured way, I know that I will be in my team for 4 years and then move into my TC and onto my SQE prep. In terms of the teams, I think it is hard to set out a framework of what is expected of you as you go up in our 4 year seat. Again, I feel my team is good a pushing me without overwhelming me so that I gain the experience I need.

I cannot fault my team, I always have a study day and feel support to discuss any queries with anyone. It is team dependant.

I have a call with a Skills Coach every 10-12 weeks to discuss progress, goals and wellbeing. My skills coach is easily contactable as are the teaching/support staff at my university. I feel I get enough support to succeed.

I think the degree provides context to my day-today job and puts you in the right mind set to approach problems from a legal perspective, but there are limited modules that are relevant to my work (this is good as you need to study the core modules for the degree and its interesting to learn something else).

Yes

I have enjoyed my experience so far, the work ranges and is all interesting. Practically, the reputation and client base at Ashurst means you can work with some big clients from a very early stage, the office is very nice and the people are lovely.