Burges Salmon will be one of the first law firms in the UK to hire legal apprentices under the new Trailblazer standards.
Burges Salmon has been involved in the Trailblazers initiative since March 2014 and is part of the steering group for legal services.
Trailblazers is a cross-party initiative developed to improve the quality and simplicity of apprenticeship standards and align them more with the needs of employers. At present more than 1,300 employers are involved, between them developing over 150 new apprenticeship standards.
The legal sector group has designed three new apprenticeship standards: Level 3 Paralegal, Level 6, Chartered Legal Executive and Level 7 Solicitor. Burges Salmon was involved in the development of all of the legal apprenticeships and was part of the sub-group that helped to draft the Level 7 Solicitor apprenticeship. This is currently one of only two Level 7 approved trailblazer standards ready for delivery.
Burges Salmon is now looking for four apprentices to complete a Level 3 Paralegal apprenticeship.
The firm's Chief People Officer Robert Halton said: "We fully support the principles behind the Trailblazers initiative and recognise the value that apprentices can bring to any business. We want to develop skills for the future of our business and the legal sector. Other professional services have been offering high quality apprenticeships for years with great success and we see this as an exciting development for the legal sector."
Burges Salmon has several events planned for National Apprenticeship Week (14 – 18 March) to raise awareness of the new apprenticeship standards. This includes an open evening on Tuesday 15 March that is open to local schools, students, parents, teachers and anyone else interested in finding out more.
The legal apprentice recruitment process is now open and the deadline for applications is 22 April 2016.
For more information see the Apprenticeships page in the Careers section of the Burges Salmon website.