Convey Law has been named Best Medium Employer at the Apprenticeship Awards Cymru 2021 organised by the Welsh Government and the National Training Federation for Wales.
Convey Law, based in Newport and founded in 2004, was recognised for its innovative apprenticeship programme and training courses.
The award, which recognises the achievement of individuals, employers and work-based learning practitioners in Wales across 12 different categories, was presented to Convey at the event’s first ever live virtual ceremony hosted by Welsh tenor and BBC presenter Wynne Jones.
The law firm developed and launched its own apprenticeship programme as it was struggling to recruit experienced conveyancers to grow the business.
Convey Law created its Conveyancing Academy Conveyancing Pathway courses to help meet recruitment targets, with the number of Conveyancers increasing from 25 in 2019 to 55 in 2020.
The programme aims to provide complete novices with the opportunity to qualify as Licensed Conveyancers within two to three years, whilst working and earning great salaries in a professional environment as they progress to qualification. Apprentices are taught to convey property within the first 12 months of their apprenticeship.
In the last year alone, apprentice numbers have doubled from 15 to 30 and Convey Law’s total workforce is on course to double by the end of 2021 to just under 200.
Lloyd Davies, Managing Director, Convey Law, said:
“It is not an exaggeration to say that our apprenticeship programme has been truly life-changing for some of our apprentices. It has provided them with a training pathway and a professional career with enhanced and sustainable prospects for them.
“To date, not only has the programme enabled us to train scores of our own apprentices, providing those career prospects for many in the South Wales region and beyond, but our sister organisation the Conveyancing Academy has become an industry-leading provider of conveyancing courses, meaning hundreds more around the UK are training and qualifying through our Conveyancing Pathway training courses.”
Lloyd said he was ‘proud to have given something back to the conveyancing industry and to Wales’, adding:
“We are all tremendously humbled to be recognised for the fantastic work our team have done in developing our apprenticeship programme and training courses.
“When we made the decision to do something proactive about not being able to recruit as many experienced staff as we needed to expand, we never dreamt our training academy and training courses would lead us down such an incredible and rewarding path, where we are making a genuine difference to many people’s lives here in Wales.”
Convey’s training courses have become industry-leading and are now available to other law firms and conveyancing practices through the Conveyancing Academy. They are the only training courses to be fully accredited by the Society for Licensed Conveyancers.
The Conveyancing Academy currently has a funding partnership with Cardiff and Vale College to offer its courses free of charge to other legal practices in Wales, with similar funding arrangements available for English legal practices. Courses are 95 – 100% Government- funded, allowing legal practices throughout the UK to grow their conveyancing teams quickly and effectively for the first time.
John Nash, Chair of the National Training Federation for Wales said the awards ‘showcase and celebrate outstanding achievements by learners, employers and work-based learning practitioners across Wales’.
