Legal training 'must target ends rather than means'

Legal training 'must target ends rather than means'

Legal training needs to be reformed, with emphasis on the result rather than the process, a high-level conference on the future of legal education was told last week.Roger Smith, the Law Society's outgoing director of education and training, said: 'What's important is the skills that students come out with, rather than how they learn them.' He stressed the importance of a theoretical framework for training purposes.

'The current training system is showing its age - it tends to develop ad hoc, and needs to be rationalised and properly outlined,' he said.Professor Peter Jones, dean of Nottingham Law School, warned of the danger of introducing too many assessments.

'We are in danger of becoming assessment junkies,' he said.

'What's more important is to encourage trainees to think and reflect properly on the law.'The conference, organised by the Law Society followed publication last month of a consultation on the skills, knowledge and ethical requirements at all stages of a solicitor's career ([2001] Gazette, 13 September, 18).Victoria MacCallum