A publicly funded 'collegiate' training contract aimed at minimising the debt that prevents many students from choosing legal aid work could be in place by this time next year, under proposals put forward by the Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG).

Under the proposed three-year training contract, academic training would be completed alongside secondments to private practice, not-for-profit organisations and possibly the Crown Prosecution Service, with students earning a salary throughout.


The scheme would also eliminate the need for legal practice course (LPC) fees for students.


LAPG chairman Roy Morgan said he already had a law school, a commercial training provider, not-for-profit advice agencies and firms of solicitors on board to provide training. He added that the project has received strong support from the Law Society, the Department for Constitutional Affairs and the Legal Services Commission (LSC), and he is currently in discussions with the LSC over funding for the project.


He said: 'Recruitment and retention of legal aid lawyers is a major crisis... It is immoral that we allow students to qualify with debts of £20,000 to £40,000 and expect them to enter legal aid practice on salaries that will not clear that debt for more than a decade.'


Mr Morgan quoted recent Society research which showed that 60% of law students would pursue a career in legal aid if all things were equal - but in fact, only 17% expected actually to do so. Half of trainees said they would like to practise legal aid work, but just 7% planned to do so, because of the need to clear debts.


Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva said: 'The creative thinking of the LAPG and the flexibility that they are seeking is in line with the thinking underpinning the Society's review of the whole training framework. In fact, subject to the detail in their proposals being approved, much of what they propose could be achieved within current training regulations.'


LSC chief executive Clare Dodgson said she welcomed 'wholeheartedly' the collegiate training model. She said: 'I would personally like to thank the LAPG for their inspirational thinking on this topic. We look forward to working with them to take this model forward.'


In May, the LSC revealed that it would provide £3 million in funding for a legal aid LPC in conjunction with the College of Law. The course will be launched next year.