By Legal Futures Associate The College of Legal Practice
UK & Ireland law firm Browne Jacobson has taken another step to strengthening their commitment to diversity and inclusion through a new progressive partnership with The College of Legal Practice. This innovative collaboration will see The College of Legal Practice offering individual supervision and preparation training to Browne Jacobson’s autumn 2023 trainee solicitor cohort.
The College will provide preparation courses for the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE1) and (SQE2), alongside specific transactional and business skills modules, one of which is focused on being O Shaped, an initiative that the firm has adopted in its strategy through its partnering with The O Shaped Lawyer. These courses will provide a strong foundation for Browne Jacobson’s trainee solicitors, who are part of the firm’s wider future lawyers group. The College’s accessible and flexible learning design, combined with the highest level of individual supervision available, will ensure that all trainee solicitors, including those with increasingly diverse backgrounds and experience which is core to the law firm’s number 1 social mobility employer index ranking that it secured in 2021 and 2022, will be able to succeed in the SQE.
Zena Comrie, Early careers adviser at Browne Jacobson commented: “We are very pleased to work closely with The College of Legal Practice to support our trainee solicitors through the SQE Assessments. We recognise that they are intensive and difficult exams, and we know that the experienced College team will provide a fresh expert approach to legal learning and the right individual support that our trainee solicitors need to be successful in the SQE.
The SQE is innovative and is changing the solicitor qualification route, so this collaboration underpins our social mobility commitments to increasing access to the legal profession through new and exciting career routes. It also reflects our continuous drive for positive change within the legal sector, linking to the innovative O shaped lawyer initiative which the firm is incredibly passionate about.”
Dr Giles Proctor, CEO of The College of Legal Practice added:
“We are delighted to have been chosen to partner Browne Jacobson with their SQE training for their trainee solicitors. Our dedicated supervisors will look after their trainee solicitor’s academic development and their wellbeing, to ensure that they all have the best chance of passing the SQE exams. We are particularly looking forward to collaborating with Browne Jacobson to encourage diversity and representation in the legal profession. One of our key goals is to increase access to the profession and this partnership and the funded scholarships involved, will greatly help us achieve it.”
