A practice alternative: the Modern Legal Apprenticeship

Guidance notes by Chris Ashford (Legal Education Officer, Irwin Mitchell) designed to provide a summary of the main issues relating to the Modern Legal Apprenticeship, presented at the UKCLE seminar on alternative routes to qualification in law on 20 May 2004.

*Please note that the Modern Legal Apprencticeship is a suggestion for a route to qualification, and is not as yet offered by any law firms. See our Directory of Legal Education for information on currently available routes to qualification as a solicitor, and read Legal education in practice: an initial survey for more on Chris’ experiences in practice.

Chris Ashford, now a lecturer at the University of Sunderland, put forward The Modern Legal Apprenticeship (MLA) as a potential alternative route into the legal profession for those students who may find the ‘risk’ of a traditional LLB/Legal Practice Course route too great, particularly in the context of rising student debt and the government’s proposed reform of higher education funding. Note: the views and opinions expressed may not necessarily reflect those of Irwin Mitchell.

The Modern Legal Apprenticeship would seek to offer an alternative route into the profession by combining academic education with a practical legal working environment. As such, it comes at a time of an increasing ‘earn while you learn’ student culture, coupled with practice becoming increasingly involved in legal education.

The context

A starting point is probably the government’s white paper and subsequent Bill on higher education funding. A key feature is the introduction of ‘variable’ or ‘top up’ fees. It is increasingly recognised that this debate takes place in the shadow of rising student debt. Anecdotal evidence suggests that academics have in recent years seen greater numbers of students undertaking part time work, studying closer to home or undertaking a part time LLB programme. With such rising debt students are understandably keen to be ‘employable’, and the government and increasingly academic focus has been on ‘employability’.

Ironically, only a third of students leaving some of the top universities in Britain expect to start or seek a graduate-level job this summer (2004). This is the lowest level recorded in the 10 years of the Graduate Careers Survey by High Fliers Research (see the BBC News report). Alongside these trends, Mike Cuthbert’s Law Student 2000 has contributed significantly to the debate on the impact and potential impact of fees and debt.

As part of the Law Student 2000 project Cuthbert developed the formula:

cost + competition = risk

That is to say, the cost of higher education and the law career pathway plus the competitive environment equals total ‘risk’. Therefore, any alternative route into the profession must seek to either reduce the cost or competition factors if it is to appeal to the modern law student. The Modern Legal Apprenticeship seeks to reduce both.

Alongside these financial issues and developments we have also seen the publication of the Law Society’s Training Framework Review, which seeks to explore new pathways to the profession through an academic, vocational or work based approach. The MLA is in essence the ‘continuous pathway’ option envisaged by the Training Framework Review.

What is a Modern Legal Apprenticeship?

The Modern Legal Apprenticeship (MLA) is a route into the profession that would transfer the financial burden of legal education from individuals to law firms. Law firms would run many courses in house, and would hence have much greater control over the content of those courses. For the MLA ‘student’ such a route would offer the chance to ‘earn while you learn’, with people entering a law firm as a paralegal or even in a secretarial role and progressing over time through an MLA. For a basic overview see:

• Ashford C (2003) Legal education in practice: insights on a journey (article from the Spring 2003 issue of Directions)
• Ashford C (2004) ‘Legal education and the academic-commercial nexus’ The Law Teacher 38(1):80

What would an MLA consist of?

The MLA would most likely commence with an NVQ/Modern Apprenticeship. Modern Apprenticeships are aimed at 16-23 year olds who have the ability to gain high levels of skills and qualifications, and consist of a mixture of work-based training and education.

This would allow firms to ‘filter’ out individuals for whom an MLA may not be an appropriate investment. Equally, funding is often available for such courses, thus offering law firms the ability to offer a qualification with minimal costs to themselves. (See the Edexcel website for further information on Modern Apprenticeships.)

For firms such a programme has the advantage of covering basic IT, numerical and literacy skills, which are seen as increasingly ‘sub-standard’ by the private sector. Alternatively, firms may seek to offer basic introductory training themselves as a filtering process. This is likely to be more cost effective, but lacks the attractiveness of being a nationally recognised award.

This stage would then most likely be followed by an ILEX or law degree route. Although a law degree is a viable option, it lacks the practical skills that ILEX encompasses and therefore may not be as attractive for firms.

ILEX students need a minimum of four GCSEs at grades A, B or C in academic subjects including English, or alternatively two A levels and one GCSE, three AS levels or NVQ level 3. Law and non-law graduates are both welcome. Commercial/business experience, equating to A level, can be taken into account.

This part of the MLA would initially consist of the ILEX Professional Diploma in Law (Level 3). There are two routes into qualifying at Level 3. The Mixed Assessment Route requires the production of a portfolio and case studies, as well as an end of course examination covering English Legal System and essential elements of law and practice. The alternative route by examination alone requires the completion of four papers.

This would be followed by the ILEX Professional Higher Diploma in Law (Level 4). This stage focuses much more in on practice and theory components, allowing for specialist study relevant to the student’s workplace. Level 4 equates to degree level.

This is likely to be followed by the Legal Practice Course (LPC); although of course the LPC itself may ultimately be restructured in line with an MLA. Equally, an LPC may be merged with an LLM or MBA, so as to create an ‘LPC Plus’ incorporating MBA modules.

The LPC may also be tailored for an individual firm or group of firms. The notion of ‘tailored LPC’ products has featured heavily in the legal press in recent years and has seen the growth of new legal training providers which are not law schools in universities, such as BPP.

This has become more topical with the rise and fall of the City LPC, which finally began operation in 2001 featuring a common syllabus targeted at would-be City lawyers. The City LPC was established by eight City law firms: Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith, Linklaters, Lovells, Norton Rose and Slaughter & May, with three providers: BPP, Nottingham Law School and the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice (OILP).

However, in March 2004 this grouping split into two, with Linklaters securing a deal with the College of Law for it to handle its own specially tailored LPC. Slaughter and May, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith, Lovells and Norton Rose have gone on to sign an agreement to use BPP as their sole LPC provider when the three-way contract with Nottingham Law School and OILP ends in June 2006.

This clearly demonstrates large firm commitment to legal education and to taking greater control, as well as a financial commitment to such projects. However, it also shows that law firms are increasingly prepared to deal with organisations that operate on a more commercial level than many universities. Furthermore, we now already have a multi-option LPC element to entering the solicitors profession.

If an ‘LPC Plus’ is not in operation, the LPC could be followed by an LLM or MBA. Nottingham Law School currently offers a number of such courses deliberately targeted and marketed at law firms, such as an LLM in Advanced Litigation, an LLM in Intellectual Property Litigation and an MBA in Legal Practice.

All of this could be combined with in-house skills workshops and firm-orientated seminars on topics such as advocacy and client care, as well as on wider issues relating to people’s chosen fields, transactions or neurotrauma for example.

Thus, returning to Cuthbert’s analysis, cost is reduced by transferring the burden from parents and students to law firms. Furthermore, students who have sought out a Unique Selling Point (USP) are more likely find future employment, having ‘proved’ themselves in advance.

How long will an MLA take?

This would vary according to the point at which an employee joined the MLA ‘escalator’. A MLA should perhaps not be seen as a simple ‘stage’, but rather as a process that will continue through employees’ working lives, allowing them to develop at their own speed and according to their own needs. Indeed, the MLA could encourage secretaries seeking an alternative fee earning role as their current posts become more automated, or could appeal to a bright 16 year old wanting a legal career or a law graduate who cannot finance the LPC. For these different groupings the MLA would take differing amounts of time.

Equally, within the context of a pressurised work environment some people may wish to take ‘breaks’ from the various stages of an MLA, whilst others may wish to qualify in the shortest time possible.

Who will the MLA attract?

The MLA would have to operate in conjunction with the existing trainee model and other routes into the legal profession if we are to continue to have a broad based legal culture. It is inevitable that only the larger law firms would ever consider the MLA concept, as for them it is financially viable and beneficial on a long term cost basis.

The MLA is therefore not a ‘replacement’ to existing routes but rather is most likely to operate in tandem with the current system. Indeed, as indicated above, the MLA route would attract those for whom entry into the legal profession is simply too expensive or who would never have ordinarily entertained the concept. As such the MLA could be one of the greatest tools for widening participation in legal education that we have ever seen.

How will the MLA affect higher education and the profession?

The traditional relationship between higher education and the profession has often been one of ‘tension’ and is both long and complex. The perceived lack of practical knowledge at all levels of graduate entry into the profession has led to the profession’s increased desire for more control over the degree programme and for greater practical understanding. Some have proposed the ‘raising of the drawbridge’, suggesting that “an ivory tower is better defended from behind a moat with a raised drawbridge”.

Of course, this argument suggests that legal academics are in some way under attack. The question one must ask is by whom? Clearly, the author of this statement is in little doubt. It is external forces; one can only guess most likely the legal profession and regulating bodies.

There are opportunities from an MLA not only for the profession itself but also for the academic profession. For example, degree programmes could be broken down into modules run as short courses for practice; some law schools such as Staffordshire are already doing this with private sector partners. Alternatively, degrees could be run on the lines of the current City LPC, with firms funding individuals to undertake a ‘tailored’ LLB programme. These ‘MLA students’ would not ‘replace’ traditional LLB students per se, as they are likely to be those who would not have undertaken a university education had the MLA not been present.

Of course, the MLA is a large firm option as it is likely to be too expensive for small firms. Equally, large firms may be reluctant to take on the burden of education pre-LPC on any mass scale. However, if students from moderate income families find the traditional route into the profession increasingly unattractive it is only firms that can provide the finance to ensure that a career in law remains open to all.

Last Modified: 4 June 2010