Michelmores’ Graduate Solicitor Apprenticeship is an alternative route into law that has quickly become “crucial to the firm’s success.” So, what’s the draw? We sit down with apprentices and early careers specialists at the firm to find out…
For anyone with an ear to the ground in the legal sector, solicitor apprenticeships are generating quite a bit of noise. Apprenticeships, put simply, are an alternative to the traditional training contract route where apprentices split their time between work-based learning (on the job at a law firm or in-house legal team) and part time study. While lot of apprenticeships target school leavers, the apprenticeship route is still in its relative infancy and no two firms’ offerings are exactly the same. In fact, some firms target solicitor apprentices at the graduate level too, which is where Michelmores enters the picture. As well as offering an apprenticeship targeted at school leavers, the firm welcomed its first cohort of graduate solicitor apprentices in 2023, with a programme that sees apprentices spend four days a week working at the firm and one day a week studying for their SQE prep courses and exams. We spoke to the firm, and its apprentices, to learn more about how it works, and why it’s an increasingly popular option for the solicitors of tomorrow.
[Read more about Michelmores’ solicitor apprenticeships targeted at school leavers here.]
“As a firm we want to be a diverse, engaged business, and this feeds directly into that by enabling us to recruit and retain the best talent by removing barriers like the cost of study.”
First things first, looking back to when the programme first started, early careers specialist Rebecca Pike explains that the introduction of the SQE led the firm to review the pathways it was offering prospective lawyers. But the drivers behind the firm’s Graduate Solicitor Apprenticeship programme weren’t just the benefits of an alternative route, it was also for the way it would help contribute to the recruitment strategy of the firm: “As a firm we want to be a diverse, engaged business, and this feeds directly into that by enabling us to recruit and retain the best talent by removing barriers like the cost of study.” In fact, according to Pike, “ensuring that we have people from different socio-economic backgrounds and different levels and types of experience,” is one of the firm’s key focuses. Consequently, “being able to offer and provide those alternative routes into law which allow you to earn whilst you learn,” is something Pike now recognises as “crucial to the firm’s success.”
Two apprentices joined the firm in 2023, and the firm now has 6 apprentices on the programme, with their first apprentice qualifying in September 2025. The graduate apprenticeship takes two and a half years to complete.
Comparing the graduate solicitor apprenticeship to the traditional training contract route, Pike explains that the programme is slightly more tailored. Whilst trainees rotate around seats across the entire firm, “on the graduate apprenticeship pathway we have three different focuses – real estate, business services, and private wealth – so you can benefit from a more tailored pathway if you’re already thinking that that’s what you want to do.” Apprentices choose one of these sectors to specialise in, and will experience different seats within this focus area, which will compliment the
sector they have selected. For the current crop of graduate apprentices, this sector focus was a great way to get to know more about particular areas of law. As graduate solicitor apprentice Oscar Turner McKinnel shares: “You could see how if you were to stay within your focus area, you could come out as quite a specialist with a lot of overlapping knowledge, just in the two and a half years!” This benefit is echoed by apprentice Katie McVey too: “The positive is that you’re working with the same people and you’re working across teams, which is quite nice. You feel like you’re a part of it, rather than being moved around the firm to different floors and all-sorts.”
When it comes to motivations for choosing the route, the firm’s current apprentices were clear that the opportunity to earn while you learn was too good an opportunity to miss: “It’s hard to fund your training,” McVey tells us. Henrietta Bullock, who has recently qualified with the firm following completion of the apprenticeship programme, agrees: “I was already working and didn’t want to take a year out to do my SQE exams unpaid. I just wanted to carry on in the workplace.” For Bullock: “Looking at the stats for passing the SQE, for people on the apprenticeship programme, it’s much higher, because you’re learning at the same time.” For another apprentice, Laurence Platt, the choice was clear: “It seemed like a bit of a golden ticket opportunity really. Someone’s willing to pay you whilst you’re studying and willing to pay for your degree, so really it was a no-brainer in that respect!”
“…when you’re in a team, they’re told you’re a trainee, so you’re given exactly the same calibre of work that a trainee would.”
So what does the day-to-day experience of a graduate solicitor apprentice at Michelmores look like? In many ways it’s much the same as being a trainee for the four days a week that the apprentices are at the firm. Graduates are doing typical trainee-level work, and move around the firm in a very similar way to trainees, just with a specialism depending on their sector focus. The structure of the programme also means that apprentices complete up to five seats at the firm, rather than the standard four that trainees complete. As Bullock explains, “it’s no longer like ‘trainees,’ and ‘apprentices,’ they now refer to everyone as ‘graduate,’ and when you’re in a team, they’re told you’re a graduate, so you’re given the same calibre of work that a trainee would.”
Where an apprentice’s day to day differs from the traditional training contract route is the apprentices’ study day, where they spend one day a week on the SQE course. This brings its own challenges and benefit. When things align it can be great, explains McKinnel: “My first seat was in taxes and trusts, and I was studying business law and dispute resolution at the time, so there wasn’t really any overlap. That meant there were some mental gymnastics on my study day to go between the two. But now I’m doing a private property, land and estates seat and I’m studying property law alongside it, which it makes it so much easier.” Bullock adds that “the month or couple of months before the exams is quite a lot of work, with study before and after work, but that’s to be expected really.”
Of course, it's important to acknowledge that working and studying simultaneously can be a bit of an adjustment, so it’s crucial that you’re prepared and can put systems in place to make the most of it. As Platt explains, “the key is that you have to be organised, and it teaches you to be organised quite quickly. That’s because if you’re not, then it’s very difficult to keep up with the pace of it.” That said, the apprentices shared that they enjoyed getting to apply and use their legal knowledge quickly, despite still being in the depths of completing their studies: “I remember reading in the first couple of weeks about undertakings and filings and that kind of stuff, and it just sort of totally washed over me,” McKinnel shares, “that was until you’re then asking for undertakings from other law firms in your opening files, and then actually it all comes back to you!”
What’s more, there’s plenty of support on offer during the busier periods. Our interviewees were quick to highlight that weekly study days are well-respected. As Bullock recalls: “I sent an email to my supervisor on my study day about a matter and she was like ‘get off your emails, it is your study day!’ They’re very mindful that it is your study day, and that you need to be studying.” This comes on top of support from the firm’s training principal and early careers team: “We catch up regularly with our graduate solicitor apprentices and also our trainees,” Pike tells us, “that’s an opportunity just to check in really, to have that space and time for questions about the graduate apprentices’ portfolios and their study, and how it’s going for them as well.” Apprentices are also allocated supervisors and buddies, so there’s plenty of advice on hand. “I’ve introduced my University of Law supervisor to my seat supervisors,” McKinnel adds, “and so I think they do take quite an interest in what you’re doing and what sort of competencies you need, and actually it’s really helped.”
“No red pen, just good to go as it is. You know when you cut paper with scissors, and it just glides all the way through from start to finish? That’s the feeling… it’s euphoria!”
So, what have been some of the most memorable moments for our apprentice interviewees? For McVey, it was attending an inquest, for Platt, a prison visit, but for Bullock, the highlight was something more subtle: “Maybe when you actually know something! I think the whole way through I didn’t really trust my ability, and then suddenly, you’re serving a claim form and you’re like ‘oh, maybe I do know something!’” McKinnel’s memory was a similar milestone: “I think your first email that gets sent out without any amendments at all. No red pen, just good to go as it is. You know when you cut paper with scissors, and it just glides all the way through from start to finish? That’s the feeling… it’s euphoria!”
The application process for the apprenticeship is very similar to the process for a traditional training contract. So similar, in fact, that according to McKinnel: “I think I’ve done six applications in total, and I wouldn’t have known this was for an apprenticeship compared to a training contract.” Once you’ve decided to apply for an apprentice position at the firm, there’s an application form, a video interview and psychometric assessment, an HR interview, and an assessment centre. So, how do you go about deciding between the two? Bullock’s advice is to “bear in mind, obviously doing the exams at the same time can be stressful, but you get treated the same as trainees.” What’s more, if you’re unsure, she reminds us that “I think once you’ve qualified and you’re moving teams or trying to get into a team, it is as respected as a training contract.” Our apprentices also had some wise words for prospective applicants. McVey explains that “it’s very easy to compare yourself to the trainees just because you think they’ve got all the knowledge, but actually sometimes it’s just about experience as well, so you can bring a lot more, or you bring other things to the table.” Don’t be put off if you don’t have any specific legal work experience either. As Platt reminds us: “They’re looking for someone who they feel is going to make a good lawyer, not someone who knows every square inch of the law on the day of the interview.”
If you’re looking for a spot on Michelmores’ graduate solicitor apprenticeship programme, Pike recommends making sure that you’re “able to share more around perhaps why you have chosen this route rather than the other route, because it’s helpful to be able to see considered choices. Then specifically for Michelmores, hearing a bit more around their interest in the tailored programme and what their interests are long-term as well.”
Applications for Michelmores' Graduate Solicitor Apprenticeship opportunities to start in 2027 open in May 2026.