What are the benefits of doing a legal apprenticeship rather than a university degree?

Hi Christopher! We can firstly put it across by duration. If you did a university degree, this would take you 3 years to get your LLB hons in law, and, provided you get a training contract straight after university, that is another 3 years due to sitting SQE for 1 year. Altogether, that is 6 years. To compare to us solicitor apprentices, we gain our law degree, whilst working and earning at TLT, with no university debt. We move to trainees in years 5 and 6, and sit our SQE. Therefore, it is the same amount of time. Moving to the many other benefits, we are working at a law firm from the get go, the knowledge you can absorb at a law firm, amongst lawyers, is incomparable to university in my opinion. We see it applied in the real world, and also work on those cases/projects too which gives us invaluable experience. We rotate seats every year for 4 years and once trainees, every 6 months. As much as im not qualified yet, I feel very confident in the fact that I will be certain as to what area of law I feel is right for me, due to the amount of sectors we get the opportunity to work in. I hope this helps, please let me know if you want to know anything else/further!

Hi Christopher, I completely agree with all the points raised by Maisey. The opportunity to learn from professionals in the industry and experience such a wide range of practice areas is invaluable. To add a few more benefits, as there really are so many to talk about, I was drawn to completing an apprenticeship because it offers a hands-on, practical learning experience. Unlike university, an apprenticeship allows you to practise and apply what you are learning during your law degree to real-life client scenarios. I have also developed so many soft skills by working in a law firm every day that I do not think I would have gained at university. These include public speaking, communication, writing, time management and prioritisation. Also, starting in a law firm at an early stage of your career gives you the opportunity to build a supportive network of colleagues and fellow apprentices. I hope that helps!

Thank you very much for getting back to me sorry it took so long to answer as a follow up question if you don\t mind me asking what sectors are you currently working in?

No problem at all! I am currently sat in Property Litigation , which is under the Real Estate Group sector

Ask away! I am currently sat in Corporate which falls under Commercial Services.