Warren Nettleford: There are many different routes to a career in law and opting for an apprenticeship is one of them. Gowling WLG is a legal firm that understands the value of apprenticeships as a viable alternative to attending university. Their programmes offer people an opportunity to earn while you learn, gaining professional qualifications and practical experience without the financial burden of significant debt.
Emma Love: Oh, that photograph.
Katy Love: Yeah, it is me, 2015 to now.
Emma: Amazing. It is like the evolution of Katy Love. Katy has changed a lot since she first started her apprenticeship back in 2015 to becoming a solicitor in 2023. Learning while earning and qualifying with no debt has created opportunities beyond work.
Katy: When I first started as an apprentice, I was very, in my shell, very shy. I mean, I always say I could not even pick up the phone to clients when they would ring me. Obviously 18, straight from school and as I have progressed in the role, I feel like I have developed personally as well, I am much more confident and that's obviously come along with big milestones in my life, getting engage, buying a house, all of that has been along my apprenticeship route.
Robin Ross: Beside her all the way, her mum, Emma, a single mum with two daughters, the financial benefits of an apprenticeship were a plus, but she did have some concerns.
Emma Love: From a parent's perspective, it can be, am I doing the right thing, are they just going to end up making the tea, are they actually going to do the filing, and they are not actually going to learn anything, and of course it could not be further from the truth. You know, the balance between the education that she received at university for her degree, and the learning part of it, they are a perfect marriage that came together.
Robin: Katy, along with two other apprentices, both named Abby, are the first solicitor apprentices at Gowling WLG, an international law firm with offices here in Birmingham and London. Supporting them was Lucy, Head of Early Talent.
Lucy Dolan: Obviously incredibly proud, they all three of them got first class honours law degrees, passed the SQE1 and also the SQE2, and got their results and that is no mean feat there, you know they are tough exams. It is not an easier way to qualify, it is a different way to qualify.
Rob Bridgman: You have taken someone who is 18, who is still maturing, and you are almost forcing them to mature very quickly and develop into someone that is sensible and uses emotional intelligence around the office. That was not something I had to do at 18 while I was still at university, and so I certainly do not think it is easy.
Robin: Gowling WLG has 33 apprentices and takes on 25 university graduates a year.
Lucy: I would never want to say that one is better than the other, it is just people want to be able to do different things and some people really value that experience of going and studying and moving out of home, and all those good things that go along with that, but it is just about having choices.
Katy: At the time schools were very much driving towards the university route, and I think there is still an element of that now, but apprenticeships are now becoming more recognised, and I think the feedback I get now when I talk about my route is people going "wow, I wish I had thought of that when I first started".
Robin: In 2023 students graduating from English universities left with a debt averaging nearly £45,000, and the cost-of-living crisis has made life even harder. This is the best part about an apprenticeship, you leave with no debt.
Katy: Yes, earning while you learn, your salary kind of increases throughout the years to reflect that you are progressing in a role, and then on qualification there is no debt because my training has all been paid for.
Robin: And for Gowling WLG, it improves retention and opens up a new pipeline of talent. What have the apprentices brought to the Company?
Richard: In terms of social mobility and access to law, we probably managed to recruit people that might not have seen law as a career for them.
Lucy: I think just the legal profession needed to change and be more current and this really widens access to our professions and hopefully makes us, like I say more representative of the clients that we look after.
Robin: As for Emma, she has been amazed by Katy's evolution from a shy 18-year-old to a confident lawyer.
Emma: I could not be prouder of Katy. I mean you just want your children to be happy. That is all that you want and that is all what she is, she is happy.