Open an SRA- or CILEX-approved training arm — audit-ready from day one.
For firms, chambers and paralegal training providers ready to formalise training under the SQE, CILEX CPQ or the solicitor / paralegal apprenticeship — precisely mapped, evidenced and inspection-ready.
You've done the work. Now formalise it.
We take on three profiles most often. If one of these sounds like you, the scoping call is short.
The growing firm
You want to train paralegals and future solicitors in-house on the SQE prep route — properly, not through ad-hoc coaching.
The chambers or CILEX centre
You're opening a CILEX CPQ delivery arm or a specialist BSB-adjacent programme and need the approval pack right first time.
The apprenticeship employer-provider
You want to run the solicitor or paralegal apprenticeship internally on the RoATP employer-provider route, without paying a training company.
Opening looks simple. Opening properly does not.
Legal training sits at the intersection of two regulators: the SRA / BSB / CILEX on the professional side and Ofsted / ESFA on the apprenticeship side. Say the wrong thing on your prospectus and you're at risk with either. Provider approval, an accurate assessment plan tied to the current SQE or CPQ specification, and — for apprenticeships — a working End-Point Assessment relationship are non-negotiable. Most firms underestimate the paperwork; the ones that succeed treat the academy like a compliance function, not a marketing exercise.
A scope built for law academy.
Fixed fee. Written scope. Named deliverables — the artefacts your regulator, awarding body or insurer will actually ask to see.
Provider approval & registration
Companies House, PII, and approved training-provider onboarding for SQE prep, CILEX CPQ or apprenticeship delivery — mapped to the correct regulator for each pathway.
Assessment-plan alignment
Curriculum mapped to the current SQE specification, CILEX CPQ assessment plan or apprenticeship standard — never to a superseded version.
End-Point Assessment logistics
For legal apprenticeships: EPAO selection, gateway evidence, portfolio structure and mock assessment rehearsal.
Inspection & audit readiness
Ofsted (for apprenticeship provision), CILEX centre monitoring and SRA-adjacent audit points, rehearsed with your team before they land.
Four steps. No surprises.
Each step is scoped in writing before it starts. You always know what is being produced, by when, and what it unlocks next.
Discovery
We identify the correct regulatory route — SRA/SQE, CILEX CPQ, apprenticeship or a combination — and produce a written scope.
Approval pack
Provider application, curriculum map, PII evidence and centre policies assembled and internally reviewed before submission.
Launch
First cohort onboarded with the assessment, portfolio and off-the-job tracking structure regulators expect from month one.
First-audit rehearsal
EQA, Ofsted monitoring or CILEX centre visit walked through with the actual documents each body reads.
Sector-literate, not generic.
Generalist consultants can write a business plan. Getting an academy through approval in a regulated field takes vocabulary inspectors and awarding bodies recognise.
We speak the regulators, plural
SRA, BSB, CILEX, Ofsted, ESFA. We name pathways correctly and never imply your academy grants a right to practise.
Precise, not promotional
Legal marketing has hard lines. Our copy and your prospectus stay on the right side of them — approved, assessed, and defensible in a complaint.
Fixed fee, written scope
Every deliverable is named. Every timeline is written. Nothing that looks like open-ended retainer consultancy.
Answered plainly.
Can you get us SRA approval to grant the right to practise?
No — and nobody can. The SQE is centrally assessed. What we do is get your academy approved as a prep provider or apprenticeship provider, with the evidence trail regulators expect.
Which route fits our firm?
Usually a mix. SQE prep for future solicitors, CPQ for a paralegal / CILEX pipeline, apprenticeship if you want to draw on the levy. We'll model it in the scoping call.
How long until first learners?
10–16 weeks for a straight prep or CPQ centre; longer for the apprenticeship route because RoATP timings dominate.
What does an engagement cost?
Fixed fee, quoted after scoping. Apprenticeship / RoATP work is scoped as a separate stream because it is a different regulator.
Open a legal training arm that survives its first audit.
Academy Open Solutions provides consultancy, not legal representation. We support providers in becoming SRA- or CILEX-recognised training arms; we do not confer the right to practise law.
Tell us where the door needs to open.
A 30-minute call, a written scope, and a fixed price before any work starts.
Start the conversation