International legal practice Osborne Clarke’s first two solicitor apprentices have qualified after completing the six-year training programme.
Yazmin Adrissi and Amy Lewis are among 16 trainees who have qualified in the firm’s Bristol office. 
Legal apprenticeships were introduced in 2015 and have proved an effective social mobility tool, opening up new routes into a career in law and offering opportunities for people who feel university isn’t the right path for them.
Osborne Clarke has this year has reported a firm-wide trainee retention rate of 86%, with 38 out of its 44-strong cohort staying on as newly qualified solicitors.
This compares with 87% last year, when 26 out of 30 trainees stayed on as newly qualified solicitors, and over 90%, in 2022, with 25 out of 27 staying on that year.
The newly qualified associates will be based across Osborne Clarke’s three UK offices with 19 in London and three in Reading as well as the 16 in Bristol.
Osborne Clarke partner and training principal Alexandra Gower, pictured, said it was important to the firm that it celebrated the dedication and achievement of Amy and Yaz, adding that they had impressed everyone in the firm and had acted as trailblazers for its current 35 solicitor apprentices. 
“Beyond working to ensure our future lawyers have all the legal and technical training required to succeed, we’re just as focused on what the human behind them needs,” she said.
“This is reflected in our bespoke training and development programme which is only the first step in the continued support our trainees receive as they transition to newly qualified solicitors.”
“We’re thrilled that so many of our excellent cohort of qualifying trainees this year have chosen to continue their careers with the firm.
“This is especially important to Osborne Clarke as we have always viewed our associates as the future leadership of our firm and the custodians of its culture.
Osborne Clarke, which employs around 800 people in Bristol, also has offices in London, Reading and across Europe and in China, Singapore and the US, where it has bases in Silicon Valley, San Francisco and New York.
The Bristol qualifiers are:
- Yazmin Adrissi, commercial
- Amy Lewis, regulatory disputes
- Anisah Ahmed, employment
- Millie Bird, commercial
- Elaina Clarke, corporate
- Sarah Denny, commercial
- Jack Duffy, construction
- Lauren Gardner, planning
- William Gardner, real estate
- Vincent Guereca-Adair, financial services
- David Herron, construction and engineering disputes
- Megan O’Reilly, real estate
- Alicia Ramirez Botas, pensions
- Niamh Osman, construction and engineering disputes
- Luke Webb, projects (qualified in March)
- Mayank Tripathi, financial services
