Education, education, education

The training principal role is ever more vital but the profession must encourage and reward those who perform it, writes Theeba Ragunathan

No-one forgets a good teacher, is one of life's better-known axioms.

How many solicitors, reading through their morning papers, must have made a face, or smiled wryly at the recent adverts exhorting a new generation of graduates to learn to teach.

Perhaps they remembered their own training as they did so.As chairwoman of the Trainee Solicitors' Group (TSG), I have received no shortage of wry reminiscences from partners about the joys (and otherwise) of life under articles of clerkship.

The more extreme of these had articled clerks paying 5 in old money for five years' training, usually not long after National Service.

The distinction between the two was sometimes a bit obscure.Over the past 20 years, training as a solicitor has seen dramatic changes.

Never before has the need for dynamic, good-quality lawyers been so strong.

To meet the challenges of modern society, law firms offer an increasingly sophisticated and specialised range of services, often married with new technologies.Under the old regime of articles, would-be solicitors trained at the heels of their supervising partners, often working within a less formal structure.

The advice and trust of a good training principal, however unstructured, was invaluable then and it is now.Nowadays with the implementation of the Law Society's training regulations, the training contract is designed to act as a solid foundation upon which to build a legal career.

Therefore, the role of the training principal or supervisor has become even more important.

The training principal role is worth praising, if only to challenge the automatic assumption within some of the profession that qualification as a solicitor for a number of years enables one to train those entering the profession without any assistance except the trainer's own experience.This assumption was misguided even when the late Lord Hailsham was still Lord Chancellor.

These days, the Law Society encourages firms to invest in training their trainers, particularly in view of the evidence received from the TSG helpline.

The helpline demonstrates - in a way which would have been left to word of mouth to the articled clerks of the 1970s and before - that while, by and large, most firms do provide adequate training, a minority does not.

A significant number of calls still reveals distressing evidence of appalling failures on the part of many supervisors.

In particular, there is still widespread ignorance of the Law Society's training regulations and, in many cases, deliberate disregard.Therefore, it is hugely important that those firms which do provide excellent training are recognised and rewarded.

With this in mind, for the second year the TSG - which represents the 8,000 trainees with contracts at firms in England & Wales -and the Gazette have combined efforts to host the 2001 TSG/Gazette Training Awards.Those nominated and the winners are firms and individuals who have good management skills, expose trainees to a range of experience and, above all, have a genuine regard for training those entering the profession.

They acknowledge good training as an essential investment for the firm and the profession as a whole.The reformed Law Society, under the leadership of its chief executive, Janet Paraskeva, is committed to promote inclusive training and education of the highest quality and relevance to our members as its recipients, and stakeholders.

Theeba Ragunathan is chairwoman of the Trainee Solicitors Group and an assistant solicitor at London-based William Sturges & Col Clarification: It was stated in last week's Comment article by Stephen Gentle that proposals for EU arrest warrants have been rushed on to the statute book.

In fact, EU arrest warrants remain proposals.

We apologise for any embarrassment or confusion caused.