The idea of a training regime which concentrates on the standards aspiring solicitors must achieve, rather than the length and structure of the courses and training they undertake, was put to the profession last week.

A consultation paper issued by the Law Society's training framework review group seeks views on an outcomes-based system in which the Society would prescribe the skills and knowledge aspiring solicitors must have, and create a system to check they are achieved before admitting them to the roll .

At the heart of the concept is an opportunity for different pathways to qualification to develop.

While there would still have to be academic, vocational and work-based learning, the proposals envisage the possibility of integrating these stages to varying degrees, including completing all the stages with one provider - medical students, for example, study in this way, with patient contact being experienced in the earliest years of undergraduate study and full integration of academic and professional learning.

In his foreword to the paper, review group chairman Michael Mathews said: 'The aim of the proposals is to achieve a qualification scheme that is both more rigorous than the current scheme and fairer to those wishing to join the profession.'

He said it could also allow those not able to follow a traditional qualification scheme to show they have the attributes required for practice.

This could meet concerns that some students from ethnic minorities or with disabilities are currently disadvantaged, especially in relation to securing training contracts.

Some leading academics have been cautious about the proposals.

Speaking to the Gazette last month (see [2003] Gazette, 18 September, 20), Professor Peter Jones, dean of Nottingham Law School, expressed concern at the prospect of another test at the point of qualification and said the law degree should focus on fundamental principles rather than vocational aspects of the law.

Professor Nigel Savage, chief executive of the College of Law, said the Society should set out a strategy and leave it to the providers to propose how to achieve it.

The consultation period closes on 5 January 2004.

For copies of the paper go to www.lawsociety.org.uk.

- The City of London Law Society is holding a forum on the consultation on 10 November.

Contact Liz Thomas, tel: 020 7329 2173.