Apprentice vs Graduate: Two Paths to Becoming a Solicitor

Did you know you could train as a solicitor straight from school?

There are two different routes to becoming a solicitor –as a graduate and as an apprentice.

In this episode, Alma-Constance and Lucinda speak to Annabel Twose, a second-year trainee, and Matt Dady, a first-year solicitor apprentice at Fieldfisher's London office, a European law firm with 25 offices in 13 countries.

Together they explore:

·      Why they wanted to train as a solicitor

·      The difference between training as a solicitor apprentice or as a graduate and why chose their route

·      challenges encountered in their training 

·      A typical day and available support 

·      The area of law they want to practice once qualified 

·      Their top tips for working in a law firm 

When she was 10 years old, Annabel was an avid reader and inspired by Alex Rider books wanted to be a spy. Matt wanted to work in the travel industry, as a captain of a cruise ship. 

References and Resources 

Fieldfisher London

CILEX episode

Legal Cheek

Corporate Law Academy

 Grow Mentoring 

The Bright Network.

Law Society and becoming a solicitor

Law Careers – a guide to apprenticeships  

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Transcript

Hi, I am Alma Constance.  And I'm Lucinda and together in our Kids Law podcast, we want to talk about how law affects everyone, especially children, and to find out how it really works. Not many people know that children as young as 10 can be held criminally responsible for their actions and could end up in court. So it's really important to know the basics of law. So, what are we going to talk about in this episode Alma-Constance? 

Well, today I'm interested to find out more about how you can train to work as a solicitor. And I'd like to know more about options you can take if you don't want to get a degree. 

Interesting question, Alma Constance. In series four we heard about becoming a legal executive through on the job learning in a specific area of law. But your question is about becoming a solicitor, which means that you can then practice in wider areas of law.  

 A typical route is to study for a degree, have further training than work experience, but increasing numbers of people are choosing an alternative way to qualify as a solicitor through an apprenticeship. Let's ask Annabel Twose, a second-year trainee and Matt Dady, a first-year solicitor apprentice at the London Offices of Fieldfisher, a European law firm with 25 offices in 13 countries.  

 Hi Annabel and Matt. Thank you so much for joining us on our Kids Law podcast today. So, my first question is, how did you decide to train as a solicitor? 

So I have quite a long route into law. I studied history and politics at Edinburgh University. Um, and I, when I graduated, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do. I thought I wanted to be a journalist, but I ended up working at a charity called First Hundred Years and after that I decided I wanted to study law. So, I studied the GDL, which is the law conversion course, and I paralegal at an immigration law firm and the Infected Blood Inquiry before getting my training contract at Fieldfisher. So I studied under the old route where you study the law conversion course and something called the legal practice course. But the new route you either do a law or a non-law degree, and then you take two large exams, which is the SQE one, which is a multiple-choice exam across all law subjects. And then the SQE two, which is focused on practical skills such as interviewing and advising. So I'm now in my second year of a training contract at Fieldfisher. I'm 30 years old, so while it has taken me a while to get here, it's actually the average age to qualify as a solicitor in the UK at the moment.  

And I went down a different route. So I went down the apprenticeship route, which is what some may argue is sort of the non-traditional university route. So I, left school after completing my A Levels. And then at 18 years old I started my journey to qualification. And I started working at Fieldfisher back in September, 2024. And I've got six years ahead of me, until I was sort of it the same sort of stage as Annabel, where we'll be talking about the SQE and qualification. 

 So how did you choose these two different routes and why make the decision to train at Fieldfisher? 

Well for me, the decision to go down the apprenticeship route as opposed to the university route was when I'd done work experience in year 12. A lot of people do work experience around that sort of time. I was very lucky to do work experience at, a corporate law firm in London and I was experiencing what it was like to work in a law firm. I saw the sort of clients that this firm had and the sort of work that the solicitors were doing for the clients, and I just found it really interesting, and I always try and do things in sort of the most efficient way. And for me, being able to get into a law firm. As early as possible in terms of the training and the experience to do that at 18 as opposed to having to go to university and study, was kind of a no brainer decision to go down the apprenticeship route. And why Fieldfisher? Well, I always wanted to work in a big international firm with lots of, big clients with lots of opportunities and Fieldfisher absolutely has that. It's an international firm with a real European base. And there's so many opportunities, whether that's client secondments, whether that's, you know, doing a, um, overseas secondment in one of the other offices across the world, or whether that's getting involved in lots of opportunities that the firm have. Fieldfisher was just a great choice for me. 

And for me, well, it took me a little longer to come to the decision. I think the biggest decision for me was deciding whether to become a solicitor or a barrister. Because I was really weighing up those two options. When I was studying on the GDL, the law conversion course, I decided to become a solicitor because I thought I really enjoyed working in a much larger team, and I thought I would enjoy the process  when you're a solicitor, you are  developing very long-term relationships with clients and you are working on a case within a team from start to finish. And I find that process very enjoyable. So that's why I decided to become a solicitor. And then once I had decided, I chose Fieldfisher because it's a full-service firm, so that means it has a very broad number of potential areas which you can train in. And I particularly enjoyed the departments that it offered trainees. So in particular when I applied, I was working for the Infected Blood Inquiry and Fieldfisher has a department that works on public law and inquiries, which is quite rare in the commercial law world. So that was particularly interesting for me. 

 Something else that also was really attractive, about the solicitor apprenticeship route as opposed to the traditional university route was of course, university does come with its cost, and it's only just recently increased. And of course, there is a huge financial burden that one puts on themselves by going down the traditional university route, and to, to go into an apprenticeship where all the university fees and all the associated costs with studying is paid for. And also, being in a paid full-time job was also something that was really attractive about the apprenticeship route. And, um, I speak to a lot of people now and they say it's, it's going to be a real blessing in the future when you don't have a student loan to have to pay back. Yes, that's right, I would say definitely it's a factor to consider  undergraduate degrees are very expensive, but Fieldfisher funds postgraduate courses in law, so once you've studied your undergraduate degree and you've got a training contract at Fieldfisher, they will pay for your SQE one SQE two fees and your law conversion course if you are doing one and pay you a maintenance grant to help with living costs as you study.  

So have there been any challenges during these two different routes? 

I think one of the main challenges when you are applying for training contracts and thinking about becoming a solicitor is unfortunately the competitiveness. A lot of people think a career in law is an attractive thing for a lot of different reasons. So it means that applying for training contracts is quite a gruelling competitive process. There's often hundreds of people applying. So it can be hard to get your applications to stand out. So that was definitely a challenge and I think the way to tackle that would be to just really think about as many interesting opportunities that you can get and reaching out to try new things, not just in law, just in life. I think if you're a well-rounded person who has curiosity about life and you can show that in your application, that definitely helps you to stand out. And yeah, similar to what Annabel said, I think one of the biggest challenges, especially in the, in, you know, initial stages of applying to a solicitor apprenticeship is that you are having to apply to these, highly competitive job roles whilst also studying, revising, doing all the work that comes with completing your final years of A levels. 

So it was a real balancing act in, in the latter part of year 13, where you have to balance revision with assessment centres and interviews. And of course that was quite a challenge to balance both of them. But I wouldn't say that should be something that puts people off because ultimately in the end, it is really rewarding when you finally get the, you know, the call that gives you the, the good news. And of course there there's challenges in terms of the structure of the program. 

So,  do you have to do more exams or assessed work as part of your training? And if so, is it difficult to balance your day-to-day work?  So, as an apprentice, we work four days a week and then we spend one day at our university which is online. And of course that is quite challenging, balancing, you know, having a, a full-time job with your studies, and being really good at managing your time, and working out how to differentiate between your studies and your work. And then something else that is also some would say is quite challenging is the fact of how in an apprenticeship, you go straight from school and you are then, you're thrown straight, you're thrown straight into the deep end in terms of being in a big corporate office and sort of being treated like an adult. And that is, that is quite a challenge at the start when you're still very young, you know, you're suffering some imposter syndrome because of the fact that you're still learning everything. And that is definitely a challenge and especially at the start of the apprenticeship.  So, Annabel, do you have to do more exams or assessed work 

So, at Fieldfisher, you do all of your exams before you start your training contract when you are a trainee solicitor. So for me, I'm very lucky that I don't have any more exams in my future, but there is definitely still a challenge day to day of balancing a lot of a lot of work because you do work hard in a law firm and it's sort of juggling getting, getting work from all sorts of different people that I'm working with. But I don't have to do any more exams.   And I'm not as lucky as Annabel. As an apprentice, I've still got quite a lot of exams ahead of me. And you often have to balance them alongside the job. Something we do every single week at university, we, we have, what they're called, they're called submitted unit tasks or SUVs., And that's essentially like an assessment every single week that we have to submit to the university. Um, and it sounds rather intense and scary, but in, you know, in, you know, realistically it's actually a really good opportunity and something that we are lucky to have as apprentices because it means that we are constantly getting lots of feedback every single week on our work. So, you know, you do find time and the firm is really supportive in giving you additional time around exam periods where if you need an extra day off for revision before an exam, or if you need some time to, to prep for an exam, the firm always willing to give you some additional time if, if that's necessary.  

So can you tell us about the work you have done so far? Do you think there is a difference in the type of work you each do?  

So I am in my fourth seat. So as a trainee, you rotate in different departments and you are in each department for six months training. So, my seats have been property litigation, so that was working on disputes related to property.  And, my second seat was in dispute resolution, so that was working on a broad range of commercial disputes, so companies fighting each other over contracts or also included commercial crime and disputes between shareholders of companies. And then I did a secondment to the BBC, which is something that the Fieldfisher offers. So I was parachuted in basically into the BBC team that works to contract comedy and drama programmes, which was really fun to do, do something very different. And now I'm in my fourth seat, which is in the regulatory department at Fieldfisher, and that's largely working on judicial reviews, so that's litigation against government departments.  

And I will do the rotations, but that will be in the fourth year of my apprenticeship. But for the first four years, we spend it in, in one department. And I'm currently sat in our Court of Protection Department. So, this is quite a niche area of law, but it's, where we manage the finances and affairs for individuals who have lost mental capacity. So it's a lot of, you know, reviewing people's finances, looking at different ways of investing their finances and making it, you know, worthwhile for them whilst also protecting their financial affairs and making sure that their needs are being met essentially. My day-to-day role, there's a lot of sort of routine management. In a, in a field of law, like court of protection, there's a lot of disclosure that needs to be done. There's a lot of. Audits that need to be completed so that we can stay compliant with the government guidelines on, on managing people's funds. There's often draft in legal documents, witness statements. And supporting people with odd tasks here and there, which is really nice because you never know what each day is gonna throw at you. Each day's different, and there's always a new challenge every single day, so that's always really nice to be in a team, which is constantly changing. And in terms of sort of weather, you know, our roles, differ in terms of sort of the work that we do like in, in terms of like an apprentice and a trainee. From what I understand, there's, there's not much differentiation in the sort of level of work or the sort of work that you are doing. I think it, it mainly, you know, differentiates in sort of the supervision that's given to apprentices as opposed to a trainee and sort of the workload that, you know, a train is expected to do is, is probably slightly, different to an apprentice. 

So I would say a typical day in the regulatory department, which I'm in at the moment, involves a variety of different tasks, mainly based around large pieces of litigation that I'm working on. So, for instance, today I drafted a letter to a government body, which threatened legal action because we think the decisions they've made are unlawful. I conducted research into new business opportunities in the hydrogen market, so that was very different for me. I had a call with my supervisor to discuss next steps in one of the cases we're working on, which is another judicial review claim. I had a meeting with a member of the public working on an independent investigation that I'm currently working on, and I also had lunch with my friends and because it was a nice day we sat outside. 

So what kind of work or area of law do you want to work in once qualified and why?  

For me, I have a particular interest in litigation, so that's contentious law. When there's a dispute between different parties. I'm currently going through the process of, applying for newly qualified jobs for when I qualify in September as a solicitor. So, when you qualify, you apply for permanent positions as a solicitor and often people decide to stay at the law firm they've qualified at. So, I'm currently going through the process of applying for jobs now. I'm applying for a few jobs internally at Fieldfisher and then we'll see where we go from there. But I am applying for litigation jobs because that's something I'm particularly interested in. 

Obviously I don't wanna be, too biased just yet because I feel like I need to experience some more seats. But I have sat in sort of a more transactional seat, when I've done work experience and that I found that really interesting, the more corporate, side of law. I find it really interesting because you work with some really incredible clients, and you've got some really big companies that you're supporting with legal transactions.I mean, I find that really interesting and sort of the, the fast-paced nature of that, that side of law I, I find really interesting. But who knows where I'll end up in six years time. 

 So what kind of support do you get at Fieldfisher? Is there someone you can talk to about work or just questions?  

Yeah. Well, there's, there's lots of support at Fieldfisher. I think, you know, the, the day to day support comes from within your team. As every trainee and the apprentice will be allocated a supervisor who will be sort of in charge of delegating work, and, you know, supervising the sorts of the work that you produce. And they're a really great support network because they're always willing to give you feedback on the work that you're doing, and supporting you with improving everything you're doing and doing it in the way that Fieldfisher expects, because the standards are really high. 

 We also have the, early careers team, who are able to support, with more sort of pastoral, situations and more of the logistics of, of the programs. And if there's any issues with the rotations or, or something like that, they're on hand to help. And we work in a really collaborative and inclusive firm and ultimately anyone that you speak to, whether that's in your team or not in your team, is always willing to help. To give you the time to explain something. And I've never once felt sort of scared to ask a question or scared to say that I don't understand because you know, whenever you do, you are always supported and helped through that. 

I think Matt summarised that well. But I would add that there's also the support of networks at Fieldfisher. So, there's a Women at Works Network that's, anyone can join, but it particularly focuses on supporting women at the firm. And there's a variety of other networks, for instance, pride for LGBTQ plus people at work and their allies. And there is Rise, which focuses on diverse staff and Discover, which addresses the needs of disabled employees at Fieldfisher.  So it feels like everyone could fit in and there would be a place for everyone and everyone would be supported, as well as the more formal supervision of your supervisor and the people that you are working with in your department.  

So do you have any top tips about working in a law firm?  

My top tip would be to always be flexible and resilient. So in law, things are always changing. The law is always changing. The work is often very fluid. So I think you as a person to succeed should always be open to changing, open to learning new things and interested in people and the world. So that would definitely be my top tip.  Um, and I think one of my top tips would be sort of always willing to go above and beyond, what's typically expected of you. I always think like everyone knows what their job is. But I think a top tip of mine is to. To go above and beyond that and to actually get involved with wider stuff within the firm, whether that's one of the networks. We have lots of networks within our firm. We have religious networks, Jewish networks, Muslim networks, Christian networks. We have all different types of social events, football clubs, netball clubs, and getting involved in those sorts of activities is something that really does make you well known within the firm. It's, it gives you lots of opportunities to meet other people in different departments that you don't typically work with. And that goes a long way. And I also think getting involved in sort of one of the pro bono opportunities that are always available within a big firm like Fieldfisher. 

So one of the pro bono, um, opportunities I got involved in was, the Queen Mary University Free Legal Advice Clinic. And whilst I wasn't given the legal advice, I was supporting, and doing the paralegal side of, helping with the more administrative tasks. 

And I think getting involved in pro bono shows that you are willing to go above and beyond. And it also just shows that you are, you are eager to learn because doing pro bono gives you so many opportunities to learn about a sector of law that you, you don't work in. It also gives you sort of opportunities to meet new people and that's something that, again, goes a really long way.  

 Yes, that's right. I, I've been involved in a number of pro bono opportunities over the last couple of years. There have been two opportunities that have been standout for me. One is providing clerking support to the International Paralympic Committee and the second opportunity has been providing legal advice and support for deaf children advocating for their educational needs. That's working with the National Deaf Children Society, and I've really enjoyed that experience and found it very rewarding.  

I have a question. I ask all of our guests, what were you like at 10 and how did  I have a question? I ask all of our guests, what were you like at 10 and did you have any idea about what you wanted to do when you grew up? I.  

Um, for me, I was a very keen reader and I think I wanted to be a spy because I was reading the Alex Ryder books by Anthony Horowitz, which are very good. And I thought being a spy would be very fun and glamorous. So, I was getting all sorts of gadgets, like invisible ink and walkie talkies. So yes, that was what I was like. 

Well for me, I think when I was at 10, it's quite a hard question that, I think  I wanted to maybe like work, in like the travel industry, maybe on like a cruise ship or something. I think I went on, a holiday, over the summer when I was 10, and I just remember being in like awe of like the captain of a, of a cruise ship when they like come out and show their face. I just thought that was the coolest job in the world, like being in charge of.  Cruise ship. And yeah, I was just very impressed by their sort of skill, and the sort of elegance of working on the seas and stuff like that. So I think that's what I probably wanna do when I was 10.  

So thank you so much for talking to us today. Do you have any final advice for young people on how to decide which option to take? 

There's lots of good resources online that you can look at.  I'd recommend looking at Legal Cheek or the Corporate Law Academy, and there's also some mentoring opportunities which you could get involved with. So you could be partnered with someone in law who could provide advice. So there's Grow Mentoring and The Bright Network. I would definitely recommend those. And for me, obviously if you're someone that really likes working, they want to get stuck in with working in a law firm, then I would definitely consider an apprenticeship route. And I think, you know, using the, the people within your school internally, your careers advisors and apprenticeship websites to help you see the opportunities out there. I think also looking at law firm websites is also really helpful because they give really good explanations on. How the apprenticeship works and their top tips on their specific applications. And I think definitely building a LinkedIn network is also really helpful because something that's really important when you are doing applications to law firm is showing your  commercial awareness and, you know, using LinkedIn and seeing the things that lawyers are, are posting and, and reposting, helps you stay updated with the legal news, and they're always great things to talk about in interviews or put on an application form because they show your commercial awareness, which is something that so important in, in the life of a lawyer.  

That's brilliant.  Thank you so much. Nice to meet you. Thank you so much. Bye-Bye bye.  

Well, Alma, what do you think about what Annabel and Matt told us?  

I was struck by the main difference between being an apprentice to a trainee is working straight from school and you get paid, although you do still have to study and take all of your exams.  Annabel emphasised that she was able to see work as a whole following through the advice and all of the proceedings. They also seem to have a lot of support from team supervisors to wider personal issues. They can talk and ask questions whenever they need to. It sounds as if they have access to many opportunities with the firm, such as networks, sport clubs, and various groups which support different interests and help everyone socialise in an informal way. Trainees and apprentices experience very different routes when it comes to actual work. Annabel will work in four departments and changes department every six months sitting through the work in this time, while Matt will stay in his current department for four years and then like Annabel will do six months in four different departments. They also both emphasised the need for flexibility and resilience when it comes to applications and work, so getting involved in events and clubs, which creates a very good impression of yourself in a work environment. Yes, it sounds as if they are both able to do interesting work to match their level of experience, and they also had good top tips. They both agreed that aiming high is important and so get involved in interesting activities doesn't have to be law. And they also gave the example of doing pro bono work. And this is a very good way to show your capabilities. 

In these podcasts, we explore how laws work and affect young people. This knowledge will help you understand your rights and responsibilities, so you can make informed decisions not only about your lives, but also about voting. For MPs who make the laws and understand how the legal justice system works, it's also important that young people know they should be kept safe and that adults must care for them. Remember, if you have any worries, talk to an adult you trust and tell them how you feel. This includes your teachers at school who are there to look after you too. So, tell them that you need to talk to them. You can find more information on Kids Law, do info website. 

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