Growing a diverse talent pool for White & Case's first solicitor apprenticeship cohort

The traditional route, going through university, into the legal sector needs upfront investment in time and resource, to make it more accessible for aspiring lawyers from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. 

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Launching a new solicitor apprenticeship

This year White & Case launched their new solicitor apprenticeship programme, offering this school-leaver route into law to help open access to the sector. A key element for a successful programme launch was to set up school and college outreach to ensure more students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds knew about and had access to the apprenticeship opportunity, to widen White & Case’s talent pool.

An outreach approach that supported access…

We worked closely together to run an in-office Insight Day which targeted outreach to students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. The day taught students about what they could expect from a solicitor apprenticeship at White & Case, let them network with those in the industry and equipped them with the skills they needed to support their career next steps. We also conducted targeted outreach in some of London’s social mobility 'cold spots' to increase awareness of White & Case’s apprenticeship across our school networks. 

….and raised local students’ aspirations around a career at White & Case

We saw 38 attendees at the Insight Day, who all met at least 1 of the PRIME social mobility criteria – and of which 50% of students met at least 2. 79% of attendees identified as being from a minority ethnic background.

The day paired with follow up materials and coaching calls raised the aspirations of the cohort, with 74% of attendees reporting that they wanted to apply for the solicitor apprenticeship. This resulted in 37% of the cohort going on to apply.

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