Make sure solicitor apprenticeships come with a badge

Many good things shine through Joanna Goodman’s feature on solicitor apprentices, which will be our cover story tomorrow.

‘Solicitor apprenticeships,’ she summarises, ‘are providing new routes to qualification, injecting young, diverse talent into the profession.’

And with caution around debt being a key deterrent to university study for many students from poorer backgrounds, the possibility of debt-free entry to the solicitor profession, working while studying, undoubtedly opens up a welcome point of access to a career in the law.

Not least, in my daughter’s A-level classes, there were straight-A students who face strong family pressure to fulfil traditional family duties and caring responsibilities ahead of following the chance to go to university. (All girls, of course.)

The apprentice route is hugely demanding, and there can be no question over the quality of lawyers it produces. I have never studied while working, and am in awe of the commitment it takes to do that.

But I hope law firms and in-house legal departments that hire apprentices will take on the responsibility of replicating or filling in for some of the wider benefits of the traditional 3-4 years at university.

That’s because there are things in the ‘traditional’ route that make the rest of life easier.

A bit of ‘social capital’ heads that list, defined as ‘the value of social networks, bonding similar people and bridging between diverse people, with norms of reciprocity’. Living and working in a multi-disciplinary environment – being, say, a history or law student but sharing a kitchen with a scientist and an architect – you acquire social capital without realising it’s happening.

Point 1, then, is if you hire an apprentice, I hope you’ll think about how you create the opportunities, time and license for them to build networks outside the immediate legal environment. They might not need those networks on qualification, but they will be well served by them in the future.

Also on that list, linked to social capital, is confidence. That includes the chance to acquire skills, including by making mistakes, in an environment where those mistakes don’t have massive consequences.

Mistakes in law firms have consequences, so there are checks in place to make sure they don’t happen. Understandable, but it may inhibit learning. The experience of mishandling a committee meeting in a student society – finding a voice that gets people’s attention, and discovering which approaches do not – is as valuable as a meeting handled well.

Point 2 is that apprentices will need a way to play at being more important than they are.

A sense of belonging and identity is important. If you went to university, and its development department knows where you live, you may feel that the word ‘alumnae’ has something to do with being repeatedly asked for money.

But it is more than that. Fellow alumnae can be good for wellbeing – people to sense check things with outside your immediate environment, bringing a different perspective.

People like to belong to something – it’s helpful.

My English grandfather left his school in London’s East End aged 13. As his City career progressed, working up from the bottom, he found himself working with men who had been to major public schools. Having done wartime service, his response was to sew an RAF badge on his blazer – this, he was saying, is where I went.

Point 3, help apprentices by thinking like an Oxbridge college – if you don’t already, ask your alumnae back in sometimes, even if they work for competitors, and give apprentices access to them, their insight and their experiences. Find ways to make their time with you a badge they want to wear.

Maybe we are all sentimentally attached to the route we took to where we are if life turned out alright, and we made good friends and good decisions along the way.

It must be good for the profession to welcome to its ranks lawyers who don’t think preparation for working life always comes with lawns, a chapel, a hall and a boat club.

The law undoubtedly gains from greater diversity.

But it should also consider ways to repay that contribution by helping solicitor apprentices, whose number will grow, with their network and connections, their confidence, a sense of belonging, and an identity to be proud of.