End of the training contract
Could a new holistic approach to training solicitors, being trialed by Northumbria University Law School in partnership with national firm Irwin Mitchell, be the future of legal education?
The Master of Law (Solicitor) degree combines the academic, vocational and training stages of qualification as a solicitor. At the end of the full-time, five-year degree course graduates can apply to the SRA for enrolment as a solicitor.
The course, made possible by an SRA initiative and designed to pilot work-based learning as a means of increasing access to the legal profession, incorporates a qualifying law degree with the legal practice course and work-based learning replacing the training contract.
The degree has been developed in consultation with the legal profession and is intended to meet the training needs of future lawyers, as well as the business needs of law firms. It is designed to open up access to the legal profession, while preserving the rigour of the training experience.
Increasing access to the profession is no doubt important in the light of recent surveys that have revealed the legal profession to be drawn from increasingly narrow sections of society, but could this new form of qualification create a two-tier system in which some are regarded as inferior?
Or will this route catch on and herald the end of the training contract?
Comments
End of the training contract - be careful the LPC is bad already
Courses with placements...how ground breaking.
With the LPC not being practical enough by any useful definition for incoming trainees - because LPC courses use too many out of practice theorists (get local 'good' lawyers in to tell students now this is how you do conveyancing!!!) the last thing we need is more connection to academia.
I hope it doesn't result in that.
That said, by linking each person to both a degree and then a 'training contract/placement' has to be good rather than having the masses chase so few training contracts.
Does that also mean you have to get a degree to be a lawyer...herm.
End to T/C's?
What a great idea! Would save so much misery in the whole hunt a training contract process! So many other professions have hand in hand academic and practical routes that it is fantastic that Law is catching on too. I would have taken this route without a moments hesitation. As it is, still hunting down a T/C..........
At last, the first sensitive
At last, the first sensitive article I've seen on this website. A breath of fresh air, finally some people are starting to realise that there's no reason to cling on to the victorian system of training contracts, which does nothing much else than frustrate those attempting to enter the profession. The LPC is an absolute joke by the way, anyone with half a brain can do it. This long degree course that combines work experience with academic content is much better, after all it's what doctors and accountants do, and guess what, it's what lawyers do in most other countries! About time.
Great idea!
This has to be the way forward. Why separate theory and practice? I never understood why lawyers (and a good lawyer is the same as a good architect, accountant, dentist or doctor) didn't have the same basic 5-6 years of practical and theoretical combined training as other professions. Also, it cuts out the who the nepotism in the profession so that TCs are not based on family and old school ties, thus cutting out the anxiety. How many bright potentail lawyers have given up due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. About time the system was based on merit!!!
As a potential student - what are the costs? No-one wants to talk about such things.
Does this not limit your choice of either going to the Bar or becoming a solicitor until after your first degree? It would seem you will have to choose very early on whether you wish to become a barrister or a solicitor. Am I missing the point? Are the boundaries between the two becoming more blurred and will there be the status of lawyer as in some countries? What happens if you change your mind and would rather become a barrister?
End of the training contract
In an age of increasing specialisation it is becoming increasingly difficult for firms such as my own which only practices in criminal law to offer training contracts because we cannot offer the additional 2 categories required. This means that for months at a time I have to ask other firms to take on my trainees to receive a training in ,say conveyancing, and often I am still responsible for the trainees salaries whilst they work for someone else. So I very much welcome a new style of vocational training to put an end to this farce. The sooner it is introduced everywhere the better.
Offer voluntary work to make profit? Then be struck off!
Any firm offering unpaid work as a way of getting cheap labour should be named, shamed and every partner (equity) should be struck off.
If it is a way of offering people experience then fine, but the concept smells to me!
Every legal employee has capacity to generate fees. Here are some ideas (trainee wannabees get your letters offering this to Firms out there tomorrow):
1. have them look at your wills database - or manually if you do not have one - and mailshot clients with wills over say 4 years old to recommend that they are reviewed
2. go to your deeds room and have them to clients with the advantages of voluntary first registration
3. write to clients who you acted for in their purchase 5 years ago (unless you sold for them!!) and see if they are interested in moving, and sell your HIP service
4. get your databases cleaned up, as that will make mailshotting very easy
5. create a Firm newsletter - monthly /quarterly - with a view to selling the areas in your practice that need it
I am sure other people will ahve some good ideas....
Who is to blame?
I quite agree that this practise is unacceptable but it is a sign of the times caused by over supply of LPC students. Those who contributed to that policy should be named and shamed. However, you should be directing your scorn ar a government who thinks that "the market" will solve all problems for lawyers and who still think there is a pot of gold for all qualified lawyers, regardless of the numbers of such people.
will this be available to
will this be available to candidates who have already completed the Law Degree and LPC? How will it apply?
I think its extremely unfair
I think its extremely unfair for those such as myself who have completed the LPC and to date have struggled to find a TC. if this is going to take off then i suggest that people in similar position such as myself should be provided with a leeway to achieving a TC
End of the training contract - be careful the LPC is bad already
I agree completely with the first comment on this blog. LPC graduates do not have relevant practical knowledge and it is time consuming training them. The training contract as it stands provides relevant useful experience and gives trainees a very real idea of solicitors practice. Solicitors are personally responsible for their work and without suitable training, it is questionable how they could practice to the appropriate standards.
I cannot see how a further connection to academia will help.
Part time LPC an alternative way?
I am currently in the second year of a two year part-time LPC and on a part-time training contract.
Part-time LPC and the benefits do not ever seem to be publicised and it took time for me to find this route.
This has meant that I am studying the LPC over two years part time (often by a release from the office of two days a month) and then the rest of the time I am in the office working under a training contract. It is incredibly hard work to balance everything and is not suitable for everyone, but it means that I have more appeal as a trainee as I am actually in practice earning fees for the firm from day 1 and the practical work supports what I am studying.
Since the new approach seems to be to promote work-based learning, I am surprised that this existing method is being overlooked.
Look at how the Germans do it
Look at how the Germans do it for example. Their academic system produces lawyers that are better trained both practically and academically. The academic and vocational aspects have been going hand in hand in Germany for hundreds of years. The rigorous state exams ensure that a high standard is guaranteed (about 20-30 % fail these exams each year). The system is (arguably for its harsh exams) not perfect, but it definitely gives students a clear path into the legal profession.