Firms that sack a trainee without the agreement of the Solicitors Regulation Authority could find themselves liable for hefty damages, a landmark employment tribunal decision suggests.

Sheffield Employment Tribunal last week ruled that a Manchester firm, Express Solicitors, was in breach of the terms of a training contract when it dismissed trainee solicitor Iain Montgomery for ‘gross misconduct’ last year. It could now face damages of up to £25,000. The firm said it would not appeal.

Express Solicitors dismissed Montgomery, 36, in November 2007. It claimed that the trainee had failed to meet some of the firm’s requirements for customer service.

However the tribunal found in Montgomery’s favour, saying that his behaviour did not amount to gross misconduct, and criticised the amount of supervision he received. Judge Hilary Slater wrote: ‘I was surprised that a trainee less than six months into his training contract was expected to run a caseload of 54 files of his own.’ Training on taking witness statements consisted solely of reading a memo on the subject, she said. One qualified practitioner, with a caseload of her own, was ‘supervising three trainees at the same time’.

Employment lawyer Andrew Moore of Lancashire firm Clough & Willis, who acted for Montgomery, said the case was challenging because there were no modern precedents. ‘The judgment even referred to an 1860 case between the parishes of St Pancras and Clapham, where an attorney’s clerk was held to be an apprentice.’

However the tribunal was in no doubt, he said, that a trainee’s employment and training contracts were ‘indivisible’. Trainees could not be dismissed from employment without having their training contract similarly terminated – which could happen only by agreement with the SRA.

Express Solicitors managing partner James Maxey said that the judgment differed from advice received from the SRA. ‘We had been told there was no need to liaise with the SRA where gross misconduct was the issue.’ The tribunal’s ruling might discourage firms from taking on trainees, he said. ‘What would happen if a trainee punched a client on the nose or stole from petty cash? Would the firm have to wait for the SRA’s permission to dismiss?’ Despite the experience he said his firm welcomes trainees. ‘We already have two and are delighted with them.’

A spokesman for the SRA said: ‘We will give detailed consideration to this ruling.’

Sara Chandler, a Law Society council member and associate professor at the College of Law, said a properly supervised trainee would not make mistakes. ‘The learning environment should be as structured and safe as possible if trainees are to achieve the competencies they need by the day they qualify.’

Montgomery said that he intends to seek another training contract.