From Solicitor to Champion
I joined Allen & Overy (as the firm was then called) in 1996 as a trainee solicitor and qualified as a Litigation solicitor in 1998. I worked in the Disputes Resolution Department of A&O until March 2021 when I requested to work full-time on the introduction of solicitor apprenticeships at the firm.
In 2022 I pivoted away from my 25-year career as a solicitor, leaving A&O to become a full-time champion of solicitor apprenticeships, working with a wide range of law firms, and I am proud that I have won several awards for this work. I am the Co-CEO of City Century, a not-for-profit collaboration of 50+ law firms around solicitor apprenticeships which itself won seven awards in 2024 alone.
I am passionate about improving socio-economic diversity in the legal profession and I am an active ally for care-experienced young people wanting to access the legal profession. I am also a Mum to four sons, a Liveryman at the City of London Solicitors’ Company, a keen reader of non-fiction and #StateSchoolProud.
Having been a lawyer at a large international law firm for 25 years, and an active voice for socio-economic diversity in the legal profession, I now advise law firms and others on setting up and running solicitor apprenticeships.
Throughout 2021 I worked with the Early Careers Partner at my previous law firm to co-lead the launch of a solicitor apprenticeships there. This launch received a lot of attention because the law firm was the first so-called 'Magic Circle' law firm to introduce the solicitor apprenticeship route to qualification.
I covered all work streams, including outreach and attraction of talent, recruitment, and the design both of the programme within legal and other practice groups and support for the apprentices.
I am available to work with law firms and in-house legal teams on both the introduction of solicitor apprenticeships and the best possible operation of solicitor apprenticeships - for the benefit of both the employer and the solicitor apprentice. Read how in 'Work with Me'.
“Joanna was a fantastic co-lead in the launch of the A&O Shearman solicitor apprenticeship programme”
James Partridge - Early Careers Partner and Training Principal at A&O Shearman