Firms lessons in law

Seven City firms have teamed up with the College of Law to pioneer an in-house training programme for commercial property lawyers.The modular course, aimed...Seven City firms have teamed up with the College of Law to pioneer an in-house training programme for commercial property lawyers.The modular course, aimed at newly-qualified to three-year qualified solicitors, is based on a diploma run by the college for Eversheds.Candidates can take up to 15 days of the course over three years, covering topics including: investment transactions, lease negotiations, protection of lease rights, development planning and documentation and corporate support.

The seven firms members of the Inn Group which co-ordinate training requirements are Bird & Bird, Bristows, Charles Russell, Farrer & Co, Goodman Derrick, Lewis Silkin and Nicholson Graham & Jones.

Patrick McCann, training manager at Bird & Bird, said the group would be looking at extending the programme to other areas, for example, tax and litigation, where individual departments were too small to get cost-effective training in-house.

According to the College of Law, the course has already proved sufficiently popular that the Association of Property Support Lawyers representing 29 mainly City firms is already considering putting together a similar course for its members.

The director of professional development at the College of Law, David Jabbari, said there was a definite trend for smaller firms to get together to look at core competency training which the college could then provide in-house.Sue Allen