The Commerce & Industry Group is to encourage in-house departments to take on trainee solicitors, its new chair John Bleasdale has told the Gazette.

Bleasdale said he wants the group’s 4,500 lawyer members to increase significantly the number of in-house training contracts available to Legal Practice Course graduates, adding that there is ‘no reason’ why LPC graduates should not be able to train as in-house lawyers from the outset of their careers.

While the proportion of in-house lawyers in the legal profession has increased, the number of in-house training contracts has not. Only 48 private companies currently offer training contracts to LPC graduates, including power company EDF Energy, telecoms group Vodafone and supermarket Sainsbury’s.

The C&I Group is developing guidance for members on how to run in-house training schemes.

Bleasdale said: ‘I’m aware of the current shortage of training contracts and there’s no reason we shouldn’t act.’ He added that he wants to see more companies mentor young lawyers thinking of working in-house, and said that the C&I Group is working with the Law Society on this issue.

Bleasdale added that the C&I Group is also working with members to increase applications by in-house lawyers for judicial posts, after some members expressed interest in applying.

See next week’s Gazette for the full interview.