Solicitor degree apprenticeship
Our solicitor degree apprenticeship is an alternative to full time university, and those student loans and fees! The programme is for aspiring solicitors with a passion for law who have completed, or are in the process of completing, their A-levels.
What is a solicitor apprenticeship?
A solicitor apprenticeship is a paid role which includes a six-year training programme and leads to qualification as solicitor upon completion. You will gain a level 7 apprenticeship award, a qualifying law degree (LLB) and the solicitors qualifying examinations (SQE), alongside work experience.
You will complete your study with our partner provider, BPP University Law School, with one day each week dedicated to your off-the-job training. You will put your learning into practice straight away by spending four days per week working within one of our many legal teams. As you progress through your apprenticeship you will complete tasks which gradually increase in complexity whilst supported by a robust network. You’ll be able to test your skills across different teams within the business by completing placements of six to twelve months in duration. You will be given the opportunity to learn from legal experts whilst completing high quality work with responsibility and client exposure.
We want our future lawyers to be both technically excellent and to have the skills necessary to understand our clients' businesses and our own. Therefore, you will also complete our bespoke learning and development programme throughout the six years, which has been designed to develop your core professional and business skills. You will cover areas including digital literacy, marketing, change management, law as a business and project management, in a varied programme which will help to prepare you for your career as a solicitor and enable you to provide the best service to our clients.
Eligibility and criteria
You will have gained, or be predicted, 128 UCAS points and hold a minimum of five GCSEs at grade four or above including Maths and English. We do not have requirements for specific subjects..
Using a contextual recruitment system, Dandi, we can identify high performing candidates who may have faced adverse impact during their secondary education. Therefore, if you have narrowly missed out on these grades, we would still encourage you to apply. We will judge each application on its own merits and so this grade criteria may be adjusted based on personal circumstances. Please contact our early careers team via email at earlycareers@weightmans.com for further information.
Our apprentice solicitors will develop the competencies listed below as they progress through the programme. These competencies are also used to help shape our early careers recruitment processes; we assess for potential in these areas, but we do not expect experience.
- Reasons and problem solves effectively with complex data and information and learns quickly.
- Plans, organises, prioritises and manages resources and time.
- IT literate.
- Has a strong commercial focus.
- Emotionally resilient, mature and positive when the going gets tough.
- Customer-centric — both internal and external.
- Flexible and adaptable.
- Demonstrates integrity.
- Is achievement-driven, shows initiative, takes responsibility with a ‘can do’
attitude. - Committed to continuous improvement.
- Attends to the detail and is quality minded.
- Self‐aware — knows own strengths and weaknesses.
- Demonstrates effective communication both verbally and in writing.
- Assertive and socially confident.
- Influential and persuasive.
- Team player and team builder who networks effectively.
- Diplomatic, tactful and empathic.
- Interpersonally skilled, reads people and situations and then adapts accordingly.
- Aware of and propagates a positive and professional image and persona.
Programme structure
We want our apprentices to qualify as solicitors who possess a range of transferable business skills, which will enable them to not only understand our business, but also equip you to be sound advisors to our clients.
In addition to the apprenticeship content, our bespoke learning and development programme has been designed to enhance these skills and alongside this, during the six years, you will have the opportunity to gain experience in our non-legal teams, this could be anything from finance to our innovation team. We believe this will help you to become a more well-rounded legal professional, by providing a unique opportunity to understand how all aspects of a law firm work.
Stage 1 – years 1 and 2
- Apprenticeship study includes: English legal system, contract law, tort or land law, client care, legal research and public law.
- Your day to day job will be: two placements in two different legal teams where you will learn about our business practices and handle legal tasks.
- We will also train you in: how a law firm works, personal effectiveness, finance, Microsoft Office and time management.
Stage 2 – years 3 and 4
- Apprenticeship study includes: criminal law, tort or land law, company law, trusts law, professional conduct, advocacy and negotiation.
- Your day to day job will be: two further legal placements and the opportunity to work within a business services team such as finance, IT or marketing.
- We will also train you in: understanding our clients, project management, pricing, presentation skills and negotiation.
Stage 3 – years 5 and 6
- Apprenticeship study includes: property law & practice, dispute resolution, wills & administration of estates, criminal law & practice. You will complete your Solicitor Qualifying Exams in year 6.
- Your day to day job will be: completing more complex work in two final placements and make a decision of where you would like to qualify as a solicitor.
- We will also train you in: business development, problem solving, decision making, horizon scanning and design thinking.
Why choose Weightmans?
We want to help you nurture a career you love, providing a working life and environment you’ll not only enjoy, but a place where you’ll love coming to work every day. We’ll challenge you to meet your potential and support you to achieve it, and then celebrate and reward your success.
In 2024, our commitment to the development and satisfaction of our employees was confirmed with the Top Employers Institute certification for the 17th year. The independent research highlighted our dedication to a better world of work through excellent HR policies and people practices.
We are truly committed to fostering a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion, where everyone in the firm is respected and recognised on merit for the work that they do.
In our offices, we have unique and open spaces accompanied by agile working for great work-life harmony. With a focus on learning and development of our people, we are proud to have consistently high trainee solicitor retention rates.
As much as we work hard, we like to play hard too! Having appropriate work/life harmony is something we value for all our people. Our social calendar is always full, from theatre visits and quizzes to office parties. Each of our offices has an active social committee who are always looking for new members to get involved. We encourage our graduates to keep in touch as a national cohort with training and annual events.
We pride ourselves in our CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) work and support a number of deserving charities, both nationally and local to our offices, including Clatterbridge Cancer Charity, Francis House, Simon on the Streets and many more. As part of our commitment, all staff receive two days of paid CSR leave each year, and each office has a local committee who are always looking for new members, and this may be something you would like to be a part of once you join us.
Salary and benefits
We offer excellent salary and benefits, our current 1st year salary is £21,840 moving to £29,000 by the final year. For London, the salary is currently £23,933 in year 1, moving to £36,000 by the final year.
As a Weightmans employee, you will also be entitled to our excellent staff benefits which include:
- 28 days' holiday
- Healthcare cover
- Pension plan
- Travel loan scheme
- Employee care scheme
- Discounted gym membership
- Dental care scheme
Meet us to find out more
If you have any queries, please feel free to get in touch by email via earlycareers@weightmans.com and follow us on Instagram @weightmansearlycareers.
How to apply
Please note that applications have now closed and we are unable to accept any further applications. Applications will reopen in Autumn 2025.
To be notified when applications reopen, please fill in the expression of interest form below.
Stage 1 — Written application
At this stage, we will look at your academic grades and your answer to an open question. This question is designed to check your understanding of how a law firm, and Weightmans, works. We will also assess structure, depth, punctuation and grammar. The quality of your answer will determine if you progress to the next stage, we therefore suggest you spend some time on this and proofread before submitting. We will review all written submissions individually, in a blind marking process.
Please note, our applications have now closed and we are unable to accept any further applications. Applications will reopen in Autumn 2025.
Stage 2 — HIPO-I interactive online assessment
If you are successful at the written application stage, you will then be invited to complete an online assessment called the HIPO-I. This assessment has been designed to test verbal and numerical reasoning, along with some situational judgement questions, to assess if our values align.
Stage 3 — Virtual Interview
If you are successful at the HIPO-I assessment, you will be invited to attend a virtual interview with a member of HR and a Partner or Principal Associate from the Firm. The interview will be conducted via Zoom and will include a presentation. Virtual interviews will take place on the following weeks:
- Week commencing Monday 13 January 2025
- Week commencing Monday 20 January 2025
Please note, there will be no other dates available.
Stage 4 — Assessment centre
We welcome you to contact us if you have any queries regarding this process.
Our application process consists of 4 stages:
Application tips
Read transcript
Welcome to Weightmans. We're a national law firm with over 1400 people and nine offices across the UK. My name is Marc, and I work in the Early Careers department at Weightmans. We're one of the first law firms of our size in the UK to offer a new ground-breaking pathway into law. Our apprenticeship Academy launched in 2020. Now you can become a solicitor, gain a qualifying law degree, earn a good salary and work in one of the top UK law firms. Our unique application process doesn't just give us the chance to review your application fairly, but it also gives you insights about the firm. There two areas where we are going to apply scoring in your application: your academics and an open question at the end of the form. Let's look at some top tips. Do your research on the company and the role. How do you fit the brief? We run open evenings every autumn, so come along and find out more about us. Take your time with the responses and start early. Don't leave it until the last minute. The application is open for at least two months, so we would advise you to consider your answers and take your time. Don't worry, the application can be saved, so you can continue it at a later date. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Ask someone you know to read through your application and give you feedback. The most common reasons for loss of points are punctuation, spelling, and grammar. So make sure to double check your application. The HiPo-i has been designed for Early Career's recruitment to identify potential in our candidates. You are usually given around a week to complete the assessment, so make sure to find a quiet space to complete it. If you pass the online assessment stage, it's time to come and talk to us at an interview. We will ensure that you are ready for the day. A member of the Early Careers team will call you to that you're prepared. At your interview, you will meet with two people: a member of HR and the lawyer from the firm so that we can get to know you better. We're a friendly team and want the best for you, so we'll try our best to make you feel at ease. Once past the interview stage, you will receive an invite to our assessment day. The assessment day is held at a Weightmans office. It includes group activities and other tasks designed to see how you respond to practical challenges, for you to show us your personality, and your problem solving skills. It is also a good chance for you to decide if Weightmans is a good fit for you. If you're a successful applicant, the support does not stop there. During our week long induction in Liverpool, you will learn more about the role and you'll get to meet other apprentices. We really look forward to meeting you all at Weightmans and we want to wish you the best of luck during your application process. If you would like more information, please contact us at earlycareers@weightmans.com.
Legal insights programme
Are you in year 12 or above, in undergraduate degrees (excluding Law), or do you have a keen interest in pursuing a legal career? If so, we are excited to announce the launch of our 2025 legal insights programme. Our aim is to provide students with an insight into our law firm, the legal career pathways available and to introduce you to members of the firm to discover what they do here at Weightmans and how a law firm works.