Researchers at Skills for Justice – a not-for-profit skills organisation that is developing a recognised apprenticeship framework underpinned by National Occupational Standards for paralegals -- also found that 83 per cent of firms would be interested in taking on apprentices in this sector.
The 51 firms surveyed employed a total of 2,143 paralegals, which is projected to rise to 2,522 by 2017.
Skills for Justice, in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, Pearson and Damar Training, recently secured nearly £1 million from the UK government to develop a level 4 higher apprenticeship in legal services.