Solicitors Regulation Authority board chair Charles Plant (pictured) today calls on the Law Society to launch a campaign encouraging solicitors to employ more trainees, after the regulator abolished the minimum salary requirement. And he insists there is ‘little evidence’ that the 30-year-old mandatory minimum ever met its stated objectives of preventing exploitation and attracting high-calibre entrants.

Writing in today’s Gazette, Plant also defends the regulator against allegations that its decision will adversely affect diversity in the profession.

‘Professions with alternative pathways to qualification have a more diverse workforce and include larger numbers of those from lower socio-economic backgrounds,’ he says.

‘Indeed, looking at the career choices of those from all types of background, starting salaries appear to be a much less important factor than others, such as interest in the work of the profession, eventual earnings and length of time studying and accumulating debt.’

See By the Book.