My journey as a Legal Team Apprentice

Experiences· 3min June 5, 2023

My apprenticeship and me

My name is Masoomah, and I am currently working at Form3 as a Legal Team Apprentice. Four days of the working week consist of working in-house in the Legal Team, and the remaining day is spent studying towards my legal qualifications.

I am already 9 months in and have learnt so much about the law, its impact on productions at Form3 in addition to having met experienced professionals from a range of different career backgrounds. I’m also two semesters into my first year at BPP University, who are my university training provider.

My apprenticeship programme is six years long – a fact that always makes other’s eyes wide open. Despite it being one of the lengthier programmes, it is this way for good reason.

What drew me to apprenticeships

I became aware of apprenticeships as an alternative to university shortly after I finished my A-level exams. At the time, I had received my five university options, none of which I was overly drawn to. I wanted to ensure the time, money and effort that I would go on to invest into studying law at university was a decision I was wholeheartedly in for.

A summer legal internship and a set of A-Level results later, I came to the realisation that I wasn’t quite ready to take the next step academically, not without a well-earned break and the opportunity of exploring other potential gateways into a legal career. And so, I decided that a gap year was in order. I devised a one-year plan that covered experiences and milestones I wanted to hit before settling into the next chunk of my academic life.

I wouldn’t ever have been able to fathom how important the year out of education would be for me. I broadened my cv with professional working experience, a volunteering position and I accomplished my final DofE Gold award. I also published an e-book (Lawyer in Progress) as part of a six-month project following on from my summer internship, designed to provide school leavers the advice that I also desperately needed when fresh out of sixth form.

Whilst busying myself with the above, I completed numerous legal work experience programmes in my gap year, both in-person and virtual, to understand what the legal career I aspired to have would really entail.

The one-year plan I devised certainly paid off – the skills I began to develop from the experience that I gained gave me a LOT more to talk about in my second round of university

applications and first round of apprenticeship applications. I spent a copious amount of time researching the apprenticeship schemes offered in the legal sector. The more I learnt about the legal apprenticeship schemes offered to school leavers, the more committed I became to getting enrolled into one. I wasn’t quite ready to let go of the routine I had built in my gap year earning a wage and learning about the law.

What drew me to Form3

After setting my sights on a legal apprentice job post at Form3 on LinkedIn, I was fixed on getting this particular apprenticeship programme. As I went through the interview process, I learnt more and more about what Form3 did and my interest only grew. It was my first apprenticeship application for an in-house legal team as a lot of the paralegal and solicitor apprenticeships I had applied for were based in private practice.

I quickly became drawn to Form3 after recognising that working in-house here would mean that I would not only developing my legal knowledge, but also learn about business productions, payment infrastructure etc - something that I didn’t initially know a legal apprenticeship could offer me.

9 months into my six-year programme at Form3 and I can say that the time I’ve spent working here has truly exceeded what were already really high expectations joining the company.

My journey so far as a Legal Team apprentice

01

I’ve shadowed senior members of my team in calls with internal and external associates.

02

I’ve presented training sessions on DocuSign and NDA reviews to other departments.

03

I’ve developed a host of skills, for example: legal research and drafting; reviewing contracts and my verbal and written communication skills.

04

I’ve been introduced to the world of payment software infrastructure.

05

I’ve been able to work alongside a number of other functions company-wide, meeting inspiring professionals from different backgrounds.

06

I’ve joined Form3’s Freshers community, being able to meet other hardworking apprentices who work in different sectors of the company.

What I enjoy the most about working here at Form3 is how no two days are the same - I get to learn something new each day. As put at the beginning, working at Form3 has definitely been the best investment of my time and effort.

The benefits of an apprenticeship

01

Apprenticeships provide a vast amount of flexibility in how you complete the academic portion of your qualification. For example, remote study omits the travel

02

Apprenticeships grant you the opportunity to earn while you learn, and the learning portion won’t cost you a dime as your qualification is fully funded.

03

For visual learners like me, being able to practice the elements of my degree every day at work makes what I’m learning easier to comprehend.

04

There isn’t a more convenient environment to learn in than in-house given that you’ll have a large number of colleagues who are fully qualified, experienced and intelligent.

05

In my case, I will have six years of invaluable legal work experience by the age of 25!

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Masoomah Asmat Legal Team Apprentice