Five councils to have apprentices in legal teams from this month

Five local authorities have legal apprentices starting with them this month who will follow the Advanced Apprenticeship in Legal Services.

Local Government Lawyer has previously reported on Sheffield City Council’s plans to hire five apprentices, one each for its Litigation, Property, Commercial, Social Care and Governance departments.

The other four councils with new apprentices this month are Cheshire West and Chester, Coventry, Exeter and Rushmoor.

CILEx Law School will provide the apprentices with training.

The Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship in Legal Services attracts public funding for young people aged 18-24, with employers paying an increased proportion of training fees for older candidates.

The programme incorporates workplace skills, known as competence units, as well as CILEx law and legal practice units which can be selected according to the area of legal practice in which the legal apprentice will be placed.

These units can be used towards the first stage of professional training for a Chartered Legal Executive.

Noel Inge, its Managing Director, said: “We are seeing increased interest in the legal apprenticeship route amongst local authorities. Legal services departments recognise the opportunity that the advanced apprenticeship provides to give young people from their local area the chance to gain workplace skills whilst fulfilling their own departmental staffing needs.”