Apprentice Paralegal Review

My role involves creating Claims for Costs to the Legal Aid Agency in S21 MCA 2005 Application cases. This involves communicating with fee earners, considering work done by the fee earners, and formulating a bill for them to claim the costs of the case back from the Legal Aid Agency.

I would say I've learnt new skills in cost drafting, as this was entirely new to me. But I have developed existing skills such as resilience.

From the work side of things, I enjoy the programme. I'm not sure if costs is what I want to pursue further in my career as I have only seen a small aspect so far of the work. I find the BPP University side more frustrating, as the amount content and work expected is hard to balance with working a full-time job, and communication regarding what they expect, and different deadlines is next to none.

Work wise - everything is very well structured and straight forward. But as with my last answer, the BPP programme is not very well organised in my opinion.

The support that I receive from my employer is great, from both my team leader and the early careers team. We have regular 121 meetings with our line manager, and our Apprenticeship manager which gives us opportunity to reach out for support if needed, and it is always made clear that we are support it always available outside of these meetings.

Little. We have weekly workshops which goes over the reading from that week, which are helpful to an extent but other than these workshops it feels like we are on our own with next to no communication regarding deadlines for coursework or assessments. We have a meeting with our 'tutor' and line manager termly, which I do find helpful as I am able to clarify with my tutor what is expected, but I wouldnt need to clarify if it was made clear. For example, with our portfolio, we were just told to submit our work to a link and what objectives we need evidence, but we were never shown what this was to look like. I even enquired about this in my meeting with my tutor, but the answer didn't really answer my question, so it felt like I was doing the portfolio work blindfolded.

It doesn't make much impact or hasn't so far. Alot of the application work to the content that we learn only applies to litigation, and with being in the costs department, it doesn't help.

There are lots of opportunities to engage with extra-curricular activities - such as volunteering. In my first 7 months, I have already volunteered at 2 school/college career events, and a fundraising sponsored walk day. There are other opportunities such as team away days which gives you opportunity to talk to people in your team that you wouldn't usually talk to.

Yes

Irwin Mitchell is a great employer for apprentices. From day one, we felt welcomed and made to feel comfortable in our new role. Starting a new role in a law firm as an apprentice is bound to be daunting, but the early careers team and our own team made us feel comfortable straight away. There are many benefits - hybrid working, flexibility, pension etc.

Research the firm. Make sure you have a good understanding of what the firm offers, there is IM podcast episodes, one of them is about apprenticeships. I found listening to these podcasts really helpful. When making it to the assessment centre stage, prepare questions and make sure to smile! I researched common assessment centre questions and thought about what my answers would be to prevent rushing my answers when it came to being asked them. I found this to be really helpful as it allowed me to feel prepared and confident.