The Crown Prosecution Service has opened its doors to external trainee solicitors. Now it is also offering pupillages to barristers. Cameron Timmis finds out what they can expect


The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) last month welcomed its first intake of external trainee solicitors – the product of an extensive national recruitment campaign – and the first formal drive to target external rather than internal candidates. The 27 successful external recruits will join 51 existing, internally recruited trainees.



Previously, says CPS training principal Lesley Williams, trainee recruitment was conducted informally by local CPS areas on an ad hoc basis, almost exclusively from within its own ranks. But recruitment is now focused on attracting the best external as well as internal candidates. ‘The Director [of Public Prosecutions] was very keen to redress the balance. He felt as an employer of choice and as a world-class prosecuting authority, it was inappropriate not to be more externally facing,’ she explains.



This week, the CPS – arguably the largest single legal practice in the land – launches its second trainee recruitment campaign in which there will be least 25, and possibly up to 40, places on offer, although both internal and external candidates will be competing for the same places. The aim is to get a ‘fair mix’ of external and internal recruits. Nor is the scheme limited to trainee solicitors – as well as offering training contracts, it also offers full 12-month pupillages for trainee barristers. Of this year’s external intake, seven are pupils.



So what does the CPS legal trainee scheme offer? One attraction – the value of which will not be lost on trainee solicitors – is the guarantee of a job at the end of the training period. After two years, or one year in the case of pupils, all trainees become Crown prosecutors (grade C1). Beyond this, because of the size of the CPS organisation – there are 2,700 lawyers – there is huge scope for specialisation, ranging from Chief Crown Prosecutor roles to working in the Old Bailey serious crime unit, the policy directorate, or confiscation unit.



Another attraction of the scheme, says Ms Williams, are trainee secondments. Because the CPS training scheme only covers one area of law – criminal litigation – to comply with Law Society guidelines trainees must gain experience of at least two other specialist areas. Secondments are therefore a significant element of the training programme, she says. Typically, CPS trainees are seconded to the Government Legal Service or Treasury Solicitor’s Department. The CPS will also support trainees who prefer to take secondments in private practice.



In terms of remuneration, the CPS scheme does not compare favourably with large law firms – it offers a relatively modest salary of £18,425, slightly more in London (a pay award is currently pending). The package also includes a civil service pension, and a fairly generous 25 days’ holiday, and ten and a half days’ public and privilege holidays. On the plus side, and arguably as important to would-be trainees – or so the CPS hopes – is the lack of a long hours culture and an emphasis on a work/life balance. Trainees in London will work 36 hours a week, 37 outside London. When attending graduate recruitment fairs, Ms Williams says she tells students: ‘Look, the salary might not compete with people on the next stand, but we give you time off to enjoy it.’



But the appeal of the CPS is not just about tangible benefits. In practice, what motivates most candidates to apply is the nature of CPS work, Ms Williams claims. ‘A lot of them talk about wanting to be on the side of justice,’ she says. ‘One said it’s about supporting the victims of crime. Someone else said “I like to be able to sleep at night”.’ Indeed, the public service nature of CPS work is a key message in its recruitment campaign. As the CPS trainee website reads: ‘If you can think of anything more worthwhile, talk to the victims and their families.’



The scheme has attracted plenty of interest. The first recruitment push received 2,000 applications, while in the coming recruitment round, Ms Williams expects as many as 5,000. Previously, she says, the scheme was restricted to students who had completed either the legal practice course (LPC) or bar vocational course (BVC) in 2005 or 2006.



This requirement has now been lifted and students who have completed the LPC or BVC earlier will be free to apply. To cope with the anticipated increase in applications, the recruitment process has also been changed for the new campaign. All applicants will now have to take an initial online verbal reasoning test, before attending an assessment and final interview stage.



Diversity is also a key thrust in recruitment, says Ms Williams. In the current intake of 27, for example, two-thirds are female, and two are visually impaired. Their ages range from 21 to 45.



Trainee selection is focused on skills rather than academic achievement – there are no minimum academic criteria stipulated. ‘The key skills we look for are in decision-making,’ says Ms Williams – ‘the ability to make sound, reasoned decisions based on the evidence, and to make decisions quickly.’ In particular, there is a strong emphasis on advocacy skills: ‘They have to be excellent communicators and have advocacy potential,’ she asserts.



So what is being a CPS trainee actually like? Siobhan Heron is a pupil trainee based at Avon and Somerset CPS. After gaining a degree in English literature from Sheffield University, she completed a conversion course at the Chester branch of the College of Law, followed by the BVC at Manchester Metropolitan University. She started working as a CPS trainee at the beginning of October.



‘My first piece of work experience was at the Warrington office of the CPS, where I gained an idea of what the organisation was like,’ she says. This confirmed to her that she wanted to work in criminal prosecution: ‘I wanted to be asserting the rights of victims and performing advocacy on a regular basis.’



Her pupillage consists of two parts – six months non-practising, and six months practising. The first part she describes as ‘intensive learning by observation’, although ‘lawyers are giving you the chance to give your opinion so you can be proactive’. Over the past month, this has included being in court ‘pretty much most of the time’ and she has also sat in police charging centres. ‘That’s been really interesting,’ she says.



Before joining the scheme, Ms Heron also worked at several chambers, both criminal and civil, but she likes the greater ‘control’ CPS lawyers have over their caseloads, compared to private practice barristers. ‘You have got the whole process in one, you can follow a case from initial investigation to completion… you almost get to be a solicitor as well as a barrister, you get the best of both worlds,’ she says.



Plus there’s one other advantage compared to private practice at the bar: ‘You’re not chasing work.’



Mo Dampha is a trainee solicitor at Thames Valley CPS, and an internal recruit. He joined the CPS in April 2000 as a case worker, after a law degree at Brunel University and a spell in IT recruitment. In 2003, he was accepted onto the CPS law scholarship scheme, which funded a part-time LPC course. He then applied for the legal trainee scheme, winning the one trainee position available in the Thames Valley. He began his training contract at the start of August.



‘Even before I started, I had a two-month project looking at the way Thames Valley police issues fixed penalty notices for minor public order offences,’ says Mr Dampha. ‘I had to review all the cases between August and September to see whether they should have been charged and whether there was enough evidence, whether it was in the public interest, and whether there would be an alternative. I reviewed 50 files and prepared a four-page report on my findings.’



Mr Dampha is currently researching sections 76 and 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, relating to admissibility of confessions, in preparation for a forthcoming trial. Having been with the CPS for six years, he says: ‘I am used to the system and people are used to me here. They are confident about giving me work immediately.’



He highlights advocacy as a key interest: ‘Going to court breaks up the week. I like meeting different types of people, not only defendants but defence lawyers and ushers.’



To complete his training, Mr Dampha is planning secondments with firms in both commercial and sports law: ‘I enjoy criminal law but I’ve always had an interest in commercial law – I’ve always enjoyed reading contracts, and I’ve done some music management. It will be good to find out what it’s like in private practice.’



Not that he is thinking of a permanent move into private practice. ‘That’s never been my angle,’ he says. ‘Besides, when I meet my friends, my work sounds more interesting.’



Cameron Timmis is a freelance journalist