The much-delayed Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) could be ‘obsolete and outdated’ even before it is published, according to the University of Law’s chief executive Nigel Savage.

Savage (pictured) was speaking to the Gazette amid speculation that the review, launched in November 2010, would miss its revised publication date of May.

He said that changes since the LETR’s inception, including the advent of alternative business structures, the Jackson reforms and the removal of legal aid from most civil cases might render the exercise obsolete.

Savage said: ‘The pace of change in higher education and legal services is such that the LETR could be dead before it hits the ground. It’s a missed opportunity because we have been waiting a long time since Roger Smith’s project more than 10 years ago. That came to nothing, too.’

He was referring to the Training Framework Review led by Roger Smith while director of legal education at the Law Society. The review was stalled by disagreements among the academics involved and failed to achieve its aim of root-and-branch reform.

Critics of the LETR fear it will suffer the same fate, pointing to the fact that its lead researchers comprise three academics and just one lawyer.