Restrictions on the legal practice course should be based not on whether a person has obtained a training contract, but on whether or not they are likely to do so.

At university, I was among high achievers who obtained training contracts before commencing the LPC. Many people on the LPC were paying £10,000 for the course without having a training contract. A few people on the course could barely speak English and some found the course too difficult.

Our A-levels determine where and what we study at degree level. However, whatever the degree subject or grade, people are permitted to pursue the LPC. This devalues the LPC, in that people who did not get the A-level grades to study law at university were allowed to study the LPC anyway. It also suggests a lack of standards. We would not want to find out that our GP could not pass A-level biology, but still found a way to practise.

The advantage of the current system is that it recognises that subjects studied at school are not everyone’s forte. However, some restrictions are needed to address the problem of too many LPC qualifiers and too few training contracts.

A restriction relating to A-level grades could ensure that only the best are allowed to practise as solicitors.

Judy Solomon , solicitor, Bromley, Kent