DAC Beachcroft Extend Apprentice Intake

Dec 19, 2013

Written By Jos Weale, Managing Editor, All About Law

Law firm DAC Beachcroft has announced it will increase its legal apprentice intake to seven after a successful pilot of its new legal apprenticeship scheme. There will be two new opportunities opening in the Real Estate department just three months after the initial intake of apprentices got started.

The two new Advanced Apprenticeship in Legal Services positions will be in the Bristol and Leeds offices, and the successful applicants will join the firm’s Real Estate division. The scheme began with an intake of five school leavers with A-levels who joined the firm in Claims Solutions and Corporate Recovery and Insolvency.

Therese Tyson, Diversity and Learning HR Manager at DAC Beachcroft, said: “We have been delighted with how easily the legal apprentices have fitted into the organisation and can see that they will be a valuable asset in the Real Estate department too."

What will the Advanced Apprenticeship in Legal Services involve?

The apprenticeship scheme has been developed by DAC Beachcroft partners and HR representatives and CILEx Law School.

Over a period of 18 to 24 months the apprentices will gain valuable work experience with responsibilities in real legal work on a daily basis. This will involve duties such as administration, preparing pro-forma letters, archiving and conducting property searches to support the solicitors. Alongside work in the office they will undertake training provided by CILEx law school. When they have completed the apprenticeship they will qualify as specialist paralegals.

Applicants will need to have a minimum of 280 UCAS points at A-level in order to apply for the positions.

Morag Joyce, a Partner in the Real Estate team who was closely involved in developing the apprenticeship programme, commented: "Recruiting apprentices into the Real Estate team is an exciting development for us and I'm very pleased to see the fruition of the work DAC Beachcroft contributed to developing the legal apprenticeship route.

“The Real Estate apprentices will learn quickly how to work on live legal matters. Their training will be carefully planned and they will work in a supportive team environment, actively contributing to the DAC Beachcroft business.”

Jenny Pelling, Business Director at CILEx Law School, said: “Within three months, the firm has seen such a clear benefit of adopting the legal apprenticeship route in their Claims Solutions team that it’s now being adopted by the Real Estate team too.

"This is evidence of the benefit of legal apprenticeships. For DAC Beachcroft to have taken the decision to expand the model in such a short time indicates how much value they place on this route as a business.”

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