David Armitage, from Middlesbrough, shares his experience of being one of the firm’s solicitor apprentices.
“I am a third-year solicitor apprentice at Jacksons Law Firm, and I am currently in the firm’s Corporate and Commercial team.
“I spent my first two years working in the Residential Conveyancing team and the Commercial Property team. In that time, I have been exposed to a range of different property transactions.
“My first year was spent in the Residential Conveyancing team. It was a big change starting the apprenticeship, but the team was extremely welcoming and helped me to find my feet.
“During my time in conveyancing, I built key skills and was introduced to important concepts such as the requirement to complete anti-money laundering checks and the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA’s) know your client requirements.
“I was able to build skills in relation to property law and moved onto running my own files after 6 months in the team, despite having no previous experience or legal knowledge.
“One of the biggest benefits of my training with the firm has been the time experienced members of the teams have given up providing me with training, tips, advice and opportunities whenever needed, despite how much they might have on.
“Another benefit has been the responsibility that has been given to me by allowing me to have and run my own files, albeit with supervision and support.
“I moved into the Commercial Property team just before starting my second year. My time in conveyancing allowed me to build a good foundation of knowledge to further develop in commercial property. I was able to apply the skills I had begun to develop in the conveyancing team in more detail and apply these to more challenging files.
“At the beginning of the third year of my apprenticeship I moved into the Corporate and Commercial team. This felt like starting again after being in the property teams, as this is an entirely different area of law that is completely new to me.
“I have enjoyed the challenge of learning a new area of law and being exposed to different transactions. In addition, to assisting on a number of different files, I have also been a part of and sat in on a range of client meetings. This has given me a lot of exposure and provided a number of opportunities to see how advice is provided in response to practical issues or questions presented by clients.
“Alongside my work at the firm, I have also continued studying for my LLB with the University of Law. I now have just over a year left of the degree. After finishing my LLB, I will move on to SQE preparations.
“As part of the LLB we have been studying land law. The two years I spent seeing how this works in practice has been a massive advantage when studying land law, as I already have an understanding of the concepts being covered. I have been able to spend more time looking at cases for my work rather than trying to understand the content. This has also helped with answering the problem style questions and allowed me to attain a first in my assignments for this unit.
“Head of Legal, Erica Turner, has pushed me to be keep her and Jacksons up to date with my results from the University to allow them to celebrate my successes and provide additional support where necessary with my studies.
“There are a huge number of benefits to qualifying as a solicitor via the apprenticeship route such as gaining real world experience from day one rather than for the last two years, learning while you earn and staying in each department longer than on a training contract.
“The biggest advertisement for the apprenticeship, however, is the number of solicitors in the firm who have told me they wish they could have undertaken a solicitor apprenticeship rather than going to university.
“I would recommend anyone who wishes to become a solicitor to consider the apprenticeship and to get in touch to find out more information.”
