The number of solicitor apprenticeships that will be made available to budding lawyers is set to double next year. 

The CityCentury initiative will see more than 50 law firms in the capital recruit and train young people into solicitor roles. 

It hopes it will be able to double its apprentice figures to 100 by September 2024, with the collaboration being led by the City of London Law Society (CLLS). 

Patrick McCann, chair of the CLLS training committee, said: “It quickly became clear that the conversation was changing — to ‘let’s get this done now’ — a real sense of City firms wanting to create an appealing hiring message and do something special.”

Of the law firms participating in CityCentury, 38 will recruit from autumn 2024, while five will take on apprentices the following year, and the remaining seven will follow before 2025. 

To complete the apprenticeship, sixth-form students need to undertake a six-year programme instead of going down the university route. 

Their training will include studying towards a degree, and taking the Solicitors Qualifying Exam, so they can work and earn money while they continue to learn. 

According to UCAS, 40 per cent of students (400,000) registering with the organisation are keen on doing an apprenticeship instead of going to university. 

It believes this could rise to 500,000 by 2030 as the population increases, at the same time as more students look for ways to earn money while completing their training. 

Young people who are interested in attaining qualifications they would have previously only have achieved at university should consider private apprenticeship programs.