EARLY CAREERS in the United Kingdom

Project manager apprenticeship

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Earn. Learn. Lead.

Kickstart your career with our four-year Level 6 Project Manager Apprenticeship – gain real experience, earn a salary and graduate with no university fees or student debt.

Develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to succeed in a career as a project manager. Explore the intersection between law and business. Discover how an international law firm makes an impact in the UK and around the world. Develop the foundational skills you need for a global legal career.

As an apprentice, you will spend one day a week with our training provider.

Download more information

Earn. Learn. Lead.

What you will do

  • Gain hands-on experience four days a week across our Law& teams, rotating through areas like legal tech, project management and delivery
  • Work on high-profile, cross-border projects at the cutting edge of legal innovation
  • Collaborate with a friendly, forward-thinking team and build a global network
  • Grow through structured learning, mentorship and support from supervisors, mentors and a dedicated apprenticeship programme manager
  • Get involved in wider firm initiatives, including people networks, sustainability and pro bono work
  • Graduate as more than a project manager – become a global business advisor ready to shape the future of law
What you will do

Who we’re looking for

We’re looking for people from a diverse range of backgrounds who have the potential to thrive at our firm.

Self-motivated and highly driven

Self-motivated and highly driven

You are proactive and strive for excellence. You pursue goals with purpose and determination, whether working independently or as part of a team.

Excitement for international law and business

Excitement for international law and business

You are curious about global legal developments, regulatory shifts and geopolitical trends.

Strong collaborator with social awareness

Strong collaborator with social awareness

You are an excellent communicator, active listener and team player who contributes to an inclusive, supportive work environment.

Entrepreneurial mindset and willingness to challenge the norm

Entrepreneurial mindset and willingness to challenge the norm

You think creatively, embrace new ideas and challenge conventional approaches. You thrive in challenging environments and aim to excel.

Ability to think critically, adapt and take ownership

Ability to think critically, adapt and take ownership

You have an ability to assess situations from multiple perspectives, adapt quickly to change and take responsibility for delivering exceptional results.

Growth mindset, seeing setbacks as opportunities

Growth mindset, seeing setbacks as opportunities

You are resilient, reflective, and always eager to learn, leveraging setbacks as an opportunity to sharpen your thinking.  

Are you eligible?

As a firm we do not have any academic requirements to apply for our project manager apprenticeship, however the tuition providers we work with do have minimum academic requirements.

You will need at least 120 UCAS points (or equivalent) and five GCSEs, including Maths and English, or equivalent, at Grade C/4 or above.

You need to have the right to work in the UK and have lived in the UK for the last three years.

Please contact us if you are unsure of your eligibility.

Practical information

  • Office location: Leeds
  • Duration: Four years

We are not currently accepting applications for this programme.

Practical information

Global careers without limits – our early careers induction

Learn about the experiences of our Class of 2024 trainees from Hong Kong, Ireland, the UAE and the UK, and our Class of 2024 UK solicitor apprentices.

Global careers without limits – our early careers induction Transcript

Liam Cowell, Partner: Welcome. Fantastic. You've done brilliant to get to this stage. At some point, make sure you do stop and recognise just how well you've done. This is a massive day in your lives. A massive start to what I'm hoping will be fantastic careers.

Irene Adeyinka, Senior Diversity and Inclusion Specialist: So who is in your team? What is everyone's learning style? What's the understanding? And then, more importantly, who are the clients and what are their needs? How does that work as well?

Elainne Dunne, Trainee Solicitor: My experience at DLA Piper has enabled me to feel confident reassuring others that they too will have a wonderful experience during their training contract.

Paul Jayson, Partner: Treat the training contract and the opportunity as if you are exploring a new country. Make the most of it. Be inquisitive. Be curious.

Emma Thea Jones, Solicitor Apprentice: I think it's really valuable having them both join the same induction, because ultimately they do the same work. So being exposed to the same sessions gives them the same grounding, which is really helpful.

Jon Hayes, Global Co-Chair and Senior Partner: And on behalf of all of the partners at DLA Piper, a really very warm welcome to this event. To this stage of your career, to this great global law firm.

Rahul Ramanathan, Trainee Solicitor: Everyone in DLA is so welcoming. So I felt like, going in, I could always turn to associates, partners, anyone for support. To ask questions and to be eager is the biggest thing I'll take away from this.

Alla Kazoun, Trainee Solicitor: They gave us certain tips and tricks that will help us hit the ground running once we've entered each of our offices. And the good thing is that those tips and tricks are universal to all offices across the globe, whether it be London, Manchester, Birmingham, Hong Kong, Dubai, all those pieces of advice are applicable.

Edward Selwyn Sharpe, Trainee Solicitor: I feel that the induction week is really good at preparing us for our future, and giving us an ability to understand where everyone's potential lies and where our own potential lies. I think it's a really exciting firm to be in, and it's great to see everyone's potential and where that might lead us in the future.

Application hints and tips

Hear from our early careers team and discover how to succeed in your application.

Application hints and tips Transcript

Molly: Hi, I am Molly. I work in the Early Careers team here at DLA Piper.

Kathleen: I'm Kathleen. I work in the Early Careers Talent Acquisition team here at DLA Piper.

Molly: When you're submitting an application form, the number one thing is to make sure you proofread your application before you submit it.

You’ve spent so long on it and it's really frustrating to submit it and realize that you've spelt something wrong.

It's really important for us to make sure that the lawyers we recruit have really great attention to detail.

Kathleen: A big thing would be – do your research to really understand why you're applying to DLA Piper.

Molly: Know the firm. Know what we're about.

Kathleen: We obviously know that you want to work in the legal industry, but what specifically stands out about us as a firm.

Molly: Once you've spent some time doing that, I'd recommend getting your application submitted. Get a draft up and really take time to work through that.

Kathleen: So if you do attend one of our assessment centres, my top tips would be to really try and be yourself.

Molly: The most important thing to do at an assessment centre is to be yourself.

Kathleen: Don't try and answer questions the way that you think the interviewer wants to hear them. They're really looking for that authentic person and who you are.

Molly: We'll be out on campus, attending lots of events, working with lots of different societies across universities, up and down the country, and across the world.

So come and meet us. That's the best opportunity for you to find out about who we are and to really reinforce the reasons why you want to work with us.

Kathleen: We also have an Instagram page. That's DLA Piper Careers.

Molly: You can find out all about where we are on campus, the opportunities, applications, openings, closing, and lots of other exciting content.

 

Give your career the best platform

Do you want to unlock an exciting future and realise your potential? Learn more about life at DLA Piper and the opportunities on our early careers programmes.

Give your career the best platform Transcript

Trainee: The main thing I've learnt from my experiences at DLA Piper is how interconnected our world really is.

Our world is growing and so globalized now. It only made sense for me to start my career somewhere that is global at heart.

Trainee: It is a global law firm. So at the junior level that means you can do international secondments to work for six months in another country, which sounds ideal to me.

Trainee: What really drew me to DLA Piper was the firm's One UK Policy, which is the policy that work is shared collaboratively across all of the UK offices.

Even though I'm based in a regional office, I still have access to opportunities to work on really high-profile, really exciting matters and projects, even from a regional base.

Trainee: Obviously, coming into a job like this there's a huge amount of imposter syndrome that can come with it.

But I think with how supported you are at DLA Piper, that can help overcome that.

They're there to give you those little pushes which you might feel too scared to take on your own.

Trainee: There are so many opportunities to just put your hand up and ask to get involved in things. So whether that's saying, oh, Could I write an article for website? Could I get involved in this pro bono work?

Trainee: I wasn't a law student, I say with some pride. I did history.

Trainee: There's no one route into law and you don't have to fit a certain mold to become a lawyer.

I, for example, did a philosophy degree. I found that in applications and interviews I had so much to talk about because those were things that I was genuinely interested in.

Trainee: So I did politics, philosophy and economics at university. Initially, I was also a bit hesitant about choosing this career because it's quite different to the kind of things I did in my undergraduate degree.

Trainee: And a firm like DLA Piper especially really values broad perspectives and different backgrounds.

Trainee: The skills you have learned from your undergraduate degree are so transferrable to what we do as a firm, and what the industry does in general.

Trainee: They're really good at developing the softer skills which contribute to a good career. I've learned a lot about the sort of lawyer I want to be.

Trainee: DLA Piper has a really friendly, inclusive culture. That's something that's been really evident as a trainee. Even really senior partners will come over to you, will have a chat with you and that makes such a difference.

Trainee: Another thing that stood out to me about DLA Piper was their commitment to pro bono.

Trainee: The pro bono and sustainability work throughout the firm is etched from the very top to the very bottom.

And things like economic development, ensuring a just and equitable climate transition – these things run throughout the firm.

Trainee: I really got the sense that it wasn't just lip service, that they actually meant what they said, and it was very value driven.

Trainee: And it's specific initiatives.

Trainee: So the Manchester office is partnered with a nonprofit organization called Hope for Justice, which supports victims of human trafficking and modern slavery.

Trainee: When I was a trainee, I got really, really involved with Project Ukraine. We basically went out to try to give legal information to people trying to come to the UK.

There was no way that you could do any work like that anywhere else. And I loved it! And I ended up doing 300 cases or so.

Trainee: I've worked on the Carbon Tax Model Rule for the Commonwealth, assisting, drafting policy guidance for them. Even though, you know, it’s completely aside from my area of practice.

It's something that I got involved with because it's something the firm was doing that I'm interested in. And I felt like if I could add value.

Trainee: You go and you feel as though you're helping people in quite a direct way.

Trainee: It's law, which involves human beings, rather than abstract principles.

Trainee: And I don't think there are many other careers that can offer that. And there are not many other firms that can offer that either.

Accessibility

At DLA Piper, we are committed to making reasonable adjustments and removing disability-related barriers. This is so everyone, irrespective of a visible or non-visible disability, neurodivergence, a long-term health condition or injury, has an equitable opportunity to succeed in our recruitment process.

If you think you may need adjustments or additional support to enable you to participate in our recruitment process, please get in touch with our Early Careers team and we will be happy to support you.

We understand that sharing your needs with us may feel daunting. We will have an open discussion with you about what will work best for you in the recruitment process, and you only need to share what you feel comfortable with. Our team will ensure that the information you provide will be treated confidentially. The information will only be shared with others involved in the process, on your approval, and where necessary.

We will use the information you share to put adjustments in place for you at any stage, or at multiple stages, of the recruitment process. This is to enable you to perform to the best of your ability, and to have an equitable opportunity to perform and thrive.

Accessibility
    Recruitment roadmap

    What to expect

    • Application form

      Our application form will capture some key information about yourself. We will also ask you to submit awritten answers regarding your motivations to apply to DLA Piper and understanding of the apprenticeship programme. We will also ask you to submit a CV, but you do not need to submit a cover letter.

    • Rare

      DLA Piper is proud to use the Rare Contextual Recruitment System (CRS). We will ask all applicants to complete a contextualised information survey, which is not mandatory. The CRS allows us to understand each candidate’s achievements in the context that they have been gained. We understand that not all candidate’s achievements look the same on paper – and we want to recruit the best people, regardless of their background.

    • Video interview

      The video interview has been developed to assess your motivations and alignment to apprenticeship programme. It will consist of three questions, on a pre-recorded video platform, which are focused on the behaviours which are important to be successful at DLA Piper, as well as your alignment to our values.

    • Assessment centre

      The final stage of the application process is an in-person assessment centre. It will comprise of exercises which give you the chance to demonstrate your strengths, to meet our people, and for us to help get to know you better.

    What to expect
    Matt Kidd, Service Delivery Apprentice, Leeds/Manchester

    Throughout my career, I've only ever found my colleagues to be helpful and considerate. My line managers have always taken an interest in my career, professional goals and my personal wellbeing

    Matt Kidd
      FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

      Your questions,
      answered

      On an apprenticeship programme, you'll gain the experiences, skills and training to kick-start your career, in a supportive and inclusive environment. You will be working in our firm from day one while receiving dedicated coaching from colleagues and the apprenticeship tuition provider. You will receive a salary and have your apprenticeship fully funded. Ultimately you will leave the programme fully qualified with a wide range of work experience and with no student debt! 

      Benefits include:

      • A government accredited Level 6 Project Manager Apprenticeship (equivalent to an undergraduate degree) 
      • 20% of your time to spend on off-the-job learning, this enables you to dedicate time for your academic learning
      • A professional qualification, technical and non-technical internal learning, coaching, work-shadowing and many other experiences to support your development
      • Tracked progression across your apprenticeship, allowing you to see how you are developing against the apprenticeship standard and what’s coming next
      • A large support network including a supportive team, supervisor, skills coach and buddy
      • A dedicated Apprenticeship Programme Manager who will provide advice, targeted development opportunities specific to your need and pastoral care support

      We are looking for talented school leavers and career changers who are looking to continue their education while working to build their knowledge and experience as a project manager. We are open to a wide range of previous academic and work experience, if you believe you can add value to the firm then please apply! We are looking for your potential and we will assess your suitability for the apprenticeship through the application process. Good luck!

      As a firm we do not have any academic requirements to apply for our project manager apprenticeship, however the tuition providers we work with do have minimum academic requirements.

      • You will need at least three C’s at A Level and Maths/English GSCE at Grade C or above (or equivalent qualifications)
      • You must also have the right to work in the UK and have lived in the UK for the last 3 years

      If you are unsure if you meet these requirements, please get in touch with us to discuss your eligibility.

      20% of your time will be spent on off-the-job learning which equates to one day per week, allowing you to focus on developing the essential knowledge, skills and behaviours chosen by industry experts, to help you build a strong career. One day per week will be a mixture of in person and virtual study sessions, lectures and focused study time dependent on the apprenticeship you apply for.

      Please contact the Early Careers team.

      Yes you can apply for an apprenticeship if you are not a UK national as long as you have right to work in the UK and you have lived in the UK for the last three years.

      No, unfortunately you are unable to apply if you have already completed an undergraduate degree. 

      If your apprenticeship is level 3 or lower, you are eligible to apply. If your apprenticeship is level 4 or higher, you are unfortunately not eligible to apply. 

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