Trainee solicitors are being 'blackmailed into complying with sexual advances' and asked to perform menial tasks such as cleaning lavatories, a report on calls received by the Trainee Solicitors Group helpline revealed this week.

More than a quarter of the record 2,241 calls to the helpline in the past year were from trainees who were being bullied, harassed or exploited.


Trainees complained that they were being asked to 'park cars', 'sit on reception for days', and even being 'bullied into going on a date with a supervisor'. Some said they received threats that their training contract would not be signed off if they did not comply with sexual advances.


Calls to the helpline increased by 13% on the previous year - with more than two-thirds of the calls coming from women, and just under a third from trainees from ethnic minorities.


TSG chairman Peter Wright said: 'This is not just a few cases - it is dozens and hundreds, and it is a telling statistic that two-thirds of calls were from women. In smaller firms, trainees can be treated as the bottom of the food chain - little more than low-paid menial staff on the same level as office assistants.


'There is a sizeable minority of firms where this is going on, and the evidence is there in black and white, in the calls we receive. That is why we have supported the work of the [Law Society's] training framework review group to introduce greater regulation of training contracts. There is too much scope for bad practice.'


Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva said: 'The Law Society views bullying as unacceptable and if we hear of cases we will usually investigate through a monitoring visit. There are clear obligations set out in the training contract, for both the firm and the trainee, and we can remove authorisation from firms where that is justified.'


Some 14% of calls to the helpline were seeking advice on finding a training contract or careers advice, while 6% related to the minimum salary. Another 5% were from students concerned that firms were not providing adequate training.


The TSG helpline is staffed by 17 volunteer trainees or newly qualified solicitors. Tel: 0800 0856 131.