Excellent trainers

On 28 october, the TSG and The Gazette will join hands for the first time to confer awards on the profession's most deserving mentors and supervisors.

Jonathan Ames reports

The concepts and the practicalities behind the training of young solicitors have transformed immeasurably over the last 20 or so years.

The Dickensian notion of an articled clerk has been consigned to history, and the image of a trainee solicitor now evokes modern connotations.

And with modernity has come the creation of what is, to all intents and purposes, a training industry.

Whereas firms used to take on aspiring lawyers only if they brought with them enough funding to finance their articles, today training contracts come with their own salaries and varying degrees of responsibility.

Articled clerks learned at their master's knee; today's trainees learn through a combination of the sink-or-swim method, one-to-one contact with a supervisor and organised formal training as epitomised by the professional skills course.

Industry status has spawned a new breed of lawyer - the training partner or supervisor.

These men and women are the linchpins between academia and modern practice, yet little has so far been said about their contribution to the continuing advancement of the solicitors' profession.

Until now, that is.

Recently the Trainee Solicitors Group - which represents the 8,000 trainees currently in contracts at firms in England and Wales - and the Gazette have combined to launch the TSG/Gazette Training Awards.

The purpose of these awards, which will be presented at the TSG's annual conference on 28 October in Coventry, is to emphasise the importance of good training and to reward exemplary training supervisors.As TSG chairwoman Grace Martins-Waring explains: 'The TSG membership is the future of the profession and the profession will only be as good as the solicitors it is training now.' And if evidence compiled by the TSG through its training contract helpline is anything to go by, then the profession as a whole still has some learning to do.

'The calls we take are evidence of appalling failures on the part of many trainers,' says Ms Martins-Waring.

'There is widespread ignorance of Law Society training regulations and, in many cases, deliberate disregard.'

Some of the problems start from the earliest stages.

One assistant solicitor, who did not wish to be identified, recalled the horrors and absurdity of the interview process even at well-known City firms.

One firm kept her waiting 50 minutes beyond the scheduled time of the meeting.

When the interview began it consisted of one main question: how would the prospective trainee, using sign language only, describe the concept of snow to a remote tribe in the Amazonian rain forest? 'I went through the humiliating process of doing it,' recalls the now four-year-qualified, successful London-based lawyer.

'If I had been more confident I would have said that if they wanted to know what sort of practical communications skills I possessed I would be happy to discuss them.

But I got the distinct impression that the partners were interested in nothing more than in humiliating young men and women.'

Those who staff the TSG helpline insist that similar stories abound and that such humiliation can continue well into the training contract itself, with documented evidence of harassment and bullying.

But Ms Martins-Waring also points out that to correct the behaviour of the significant minority, the good practices of the many must be highlighted.

'Whilst it is essential that the horror stories which emerge from the helpline are publicised if we are to get improvements to the system, it is also important publicly to recognise and reward the inspirational training many of us are receiving.'

That view is roundly supported by leading players in the training field.

Roger Smith, the Law Society's director of legal education, acknowledges the problems: 'There is a small number of firms that hasn't adapted to the modern world.

Sometimes it is difficult for firms to realise that they will benefit in the long term from putting good training practices in place .'But, on the other hand, some firms are getting it right.

Many have human resources departments and are making themselves familiar with management and human resources issues.

The general way in which firms are now dealing with trainees is improving.'Understandably, Mr Smith maintains that the Law Society itself has played a major role in changing firms' perspectives.

'The Society has provided guidance which has made firms think of the period as a training contract during which there are identifiable training objectives.'

Indeed, the Society is backing up its encouragement with an improved big stick.

As Andrew Holroyd, the chairman of Chancery Lane's training committee, explains, the monitoring of training contracts is soon to take on an enhanced force.

A professional team of a chief monitor and 20 monitors is soon to begin a regime of visiting firms and assessing their training schemes to ensure they meet the Society's standards.

The visits will be conducted partially on a random basis and partially on the basis of information received.

But firms will never know whether they have been chosen by chance or whether the monitoring team has been tipped off by a whistle-blower.

Pilot visits have already taken place; the scheme was formally begun at the beginning of August and is scheduled to swing into full operation in September.

So what are the characteristics of a top-flight training supervisor? 'Somebody with an open door policy who is prepared to spend time with trainees and to deal directly with any questions they might have,' says Mr Holroyd.

'Making time is the problem that must be overcome.'

Mr Smith says: 'They should have a real interest in people going through the training process.

They should be good managers.

Those factors supersede all of the technical sides of being a training supervisor.

Secondly, they should ensure that trainees get the full range and depth of experience.'

Ms Martins-Waring regards the ideal trainer as 'someone who doesn't think that a terrible life as a trainee is character-building; someone who doesn't operate on the premise that "I was thrown in at the deep end and look at me now"'.

The winners will be those with the vision to recognise that trainees are an investment, not cheap labour; that good instruction, encouragement, support and constructive criticism will get the best results from someone learning to do a job.'

l For additional details on the nomination process for the TSG/Gazette Training Award, see the TSG's Web site on www.tsg.org.uk

The Panel of Judges

Three awards will be made at the TSG's annual conference in Coventry on 28 October.

They are: Large firm training supervisor (firms of 21 partners or more); Small firm training supervisor (20 or fewer partners); and In-house training supervisor, covering local and central government and commerce and industry.

The judges for this year's Trainee Solicitors Group/Gazette training awards are:l Lord Williams of Mostyn QC, the Attorney-General (pictured left)l Deborah Ball, the Law Society's chief monitor of training contractsl Andrew Holroyd, chairman of the Law Society's training committeel Anthony Inglese, Deputy Treasury Solicitorl Tim Ross, head of training and recruitment at City law firm Clifford Chancel Nick Armstrong, former chairman of the Trainee Solicitors Groupl Evlynne Gilvarry, editor-in-chief of the Gazette