Apprenticeships

Through your apprenticeship, you will gain the technical knowledge, practical experience and wider skills you need for your immediate job and future career.  You will gain this through a wide mix of learning in the workplace, formal off-the-job training and the opportunity to practise new skills in a real work environment.  

To satisfy the requirements of the apprenticeship standard, you will need to spend 20% of your time on off-the-job learning which equates to one day each week to study.  Working with our chosen provider Damar Training and The University of Law (ULaw) we will incorporate any bespoke aspects of learning that we feel appropriate for training and future success at RPC.

You will work on legal administrative tasks in supervised paralegal teams as well as gain experience in business support teams. 
Tasks will be varied and include:

• File opening, closing and all associated processes
• Attending meetings and note taking
• Conflict checking
• Updating case management systems, managing data and associated records
• Producing claims prints and extracting relevant data reports
• Carrying out research

The paralegal apprenticeship takes 2 years to complete with the opportunity on successful completion to be considered for the solicitor apprenticeship (level 7 apprenticeship). The solicitor apprenticeship requires approximately 5.5 - 6 more years of study (taking into account exemptions from paralegal apprenticeship), also incorporating a law degree.

You will receive a Level 3 paralegal apprenticeship.

We offer three paralegal apprenticeships every two years.  Our next cohort of paralegal apprentices will start in November 2023.  Applications for this programme will open in September 2022.

Application timeline:

• 1 September 2022 – applications open
• January 2023 – applications close
• February 2023 – assessment day by invitation only (Yr 13s or beyond)
• February 2023 – offers made conditional upon A Level results
• August 2023 – offers made unconditional based on A level results*
• November 2023 – paralegal apprentices start
• November 2025 – paralegal apprentices finish

* Please note that we will consider the impact of COVID-19 when reviewing all exams and assessments completed in 2020-2022.  Please provide us with any relevant details in the mitigating circumstances box on the application form.

What are the basic requirements?

• Being in year 13 or beyond 
• GCSE Maths & English: grades A-C or 9-4*
• A Levels ABB (predicted or obtained) or BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma at Distinction, Distinction or Merit, ideally in relevant subjects or a non-law undergraduate degree.
• It’s not essential to have studied law before but an appetite to learn and progress is important

* Please note that we will consider the impact of COVID-19 when reviewing all exams and assessments completed in 2020-2022.  Please provide us with any relevant details in the mitigating circumstances box on the application form or via Multiverse for our business administration apprenticeships.

More broadly we are looking for individuals with the following qualities:

• Hardworking, enthusiastic and motivated
• Ready and willing to learn
• Confident, with strong written and verbal communication skills
•  Committed and willing to turn a hand to whatever tasks are needed to meet the team's aims
•  Keen attention to detail
•  Organised and efficient
•  Interested in process and technology
•  Knowledge and use of Microsoft office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook)

You will be expected to demonstrate your motivations, skills and attributes notably through:

• an interview
• a group exercise
• a written/role play task

You will also be taken on a tour of the firm and have the opportunity to meet some of our team members in an informal setting.

This is a two-way process: the idea is to give you an opportunity to see us and vice versa in order to ascertain whether this is the right position and firm for you.

Our assessment days can be run virtually.

Bristol for our paralegal apprenticeships.  Either Bristol or London for our business administration apprenticeships.

Along with an annual salary of £19,000 (London) or £16,000 (Bristol) you'll be offered a competitive and creative full package of benefits.

We’re all unique. And that’s why RPC’s benefits package is too. We respect we’re all real people with passions, families and lives away from our desks. So we offer you the chance to tailor your benefits, offering choice and flexibility to everyone who works here.

Our benefits package covers almost everything, from wellness festivals and social events to extra annual leave and family and wealth-related rewards.

Each of our apprentices will be allocated a supervisor who will be their main point of contact for all work-related matters.

To assist with pastoral elements, you will also be assigned a buddy who will help you settle into your role and the firm.

The first few weeks will be taken up with our Apprentice New Starter Programme which has been designed to introduce you to RPC. You’ll meet your team, the current apprentices and our trainee development team.

This will be very much up to you! We like to give our apprentices a challenge, but you’ll never be asked to take on more than you are confident with. Your supervisor will decide exactly how much you should take on at each stage of your training.

We’re proud of our open and honest culture. So you’ll have regular, informal feedback from your supervisor. We'll also give you formal reviews on a regular basis which will provide you, and us, with an opportunity to assess how you’re getting on and areas where we can help you progress further.

Our apprentices rarely have to work long hours, but from time to time, you may need to stay late and lend a hand if there's a deadline looming.

We ask that everyone exercises their judgement to "dress for their day". This may mean dressing in more traditional business wear for a particular event whilst being free to dress more casually for a day which involves internal meetings or meetings with clients who you know are comfortable with a more casual dress code.