Solicitor apprenticeship

The first step to securing a solicitor apprenticeship is to complete an online application. During your application, you will be asked details of your academics, work experience and you will also be asked to complete a personal statement which outlines your motivation for a solicitor apprenticeship. From this we are trying to ascertain what skills you have which would be relevant for a solicitor apprenticeship. 

Tip - We don't expect applicants to have legal work experience so please don't worry if you haven't gained any yet, but part time work experience or work in other industries can allow you to develop lots of transferrable skills. 

Read our advice on how to market yourself in an application 

If your application meets our criteria, you will be offered the chance to complete a video interview. The video interview will take around 15 minutes to complete and will include a mixture of strengths based and competency based interview questions. 

Tip - A strengths based question tends to be more forward thinking, asking you to consider the role of a solicitor apprentice and reflect on what skills you have which would allow you to thrive in this role. A competency based interview would ask you to provide examples of previous experience to demonstrate a skill. 

Read our helpful blog post which gives advice on video interviews 

Our third and final step would be to invite you to attend an assessment centre in one of our offices. Our assessment centres comprise of three exercises; a strengths based interview, group exercise and a written task. You will also attend an informal networking session to give you the opportunity to find out more about the role. 

Tip - We'd like to find out more about your motivation for a solicitor apprenticeship and your understanding of the role, so make sure that you can demonstrate your understanding throughout each exercise. 

Read our blog post which explains what to expect at a DWF assessment centre

If you pass the assessment centre stage, you will be offered a solicitor apprenticeship.

Once offered, we will keep in touch with you to make sure that you achieve the required grades, we'll share relevant updates and we'll invite you to attend social events with your peers before you start.