Every law firm should consider the benefits of hiring apprentices.

As National Apprenticeship Week begins, it provides the perfect opportunity to take stock of the positive impact apprenticeships and traineeships have on individuals, businesses and the wider economy.

This year’s overarching theme is a challenge for us all to think about how much we really know about apprenticeships. For instance, did you know that companies in the business, administration and legal sectors report an average increase in productivity of £268 a week when they hire apprentices? Or that apprenticeships were estimated to have contributed £34bn to the UK economy in 2014?

Hundreds of events are taking place to celebrate the benefits of apprenticeships. And thanks to recent developments, such as the launch of a Higher Apprenticeship in Legal Services in 2013, an increasing number of law firms are able to reap the rewards of training apprentices to meet their needs.

One such firm is Weightmans, which was recognised for its outstanding contribution to apprenticeships at the 2014 National Apprenticeship Awards and featured in the annual Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers list. In 2013, the top-50 UK law firm became the first employer in the country to recruit a higher apprentice in legal services. It now employs 10 apprentices in a number of areas including legal, paralegal, business administration, management and accounting.

Weightmans believed access to a rewarding legal career was too narrow and turned to apprenticeships to open more doors for ambitious young people. But as well as creating opportunities for young people, Weightmans found that apprenticeships increased business productivity. After just a few months of hiring apprentices, the young recruits have been able to get involved in fee-earning activity – contributing directly to the firm’s productivity.

Moreover, apprentices have freed up associates for fee-earning activity, as they are able to quickly assume responsibility for a range of tasks, such as preparing documents for hearings and assisting with drafting witness statements.

Another firm enjoying the benefits is Gordons, which cites hiring apprentices as helping achieve greater diversity in its organisation and also enabling it to deliver high-quality client work at a competitive cost. Its investment in apprentices is paying dividends –with fee income generated through apprentices’ work worth more than £300k.

The good news is that taking on an apprentice is much easier than some may think. And a key part of National Apprenticeship Week 2015 is to highlight the support and funding available, especially for small firms.  

For example, as well as dedicated SME employer teams within the National Apprenticeship Service, there is also financial assistance available to employers of 16- to 24-year-olds, in the form of the apprenticeship grant for employers (AGE). The AGE 16 to 24 grant, which has enabled more than 106,000 extra young people to start an apprenticeship, was recently extended until the end of the year.

Now any company with fewer than 50 employees, which is new to apprenticeships or has not enrolled a new recruit or existing employee into an apprenticeship programme in the previous 12 months, could be eligible. They could receive up to five grants of £1,500 to help cover the cost of taking on an apprentice.

These are exciting times for legal apprenticeships, with employers taking the driving seat in developing new standards for roles including paralegal, chartered legal executive and solicitor as part of the government’s trailblazer programme. And so as we celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, I would encourage all legal firms – from large corporates to small regional practices – to find out how apprenticeships can benefit their business.

Sue Husband is director of the National Apprenticeship Service

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