CURRENT ISSUES CONCERNING LEGAL TRAINING

Trainee Solicitor Workloads

47% of law students expect to work more than 50 hours a week after qualifying as lawyers.

Almost half of law students intend to opt out of the Working Time Directive to enable them to work more than 50 hours a week, according to research carried out by Sweet & Maxwell, the legal and business information provider. The Working Time Directive limits the working week to 48 hours but employees within the UK are able to opt out of the regulations.

The research, carried out by Sweet & Maxwell, reveals that only 13% of law students expect to work less than 39 hours a week. 5% said that they are prepared to work as many hours as necessary.

Sweet & Maxwell’s research also reveals that 27% of law students expect to earn more than £31,000 on qualification, indicating that many law students could be disappointed by their starting salary. The average salary for a trainee solicitor is £20,925 and the Law Society sets the minimum salary at £17,110 for Inner London and £15,332 for the rest of England and Wales. 

42% of respondents expect their peak earnings to exceed £70,000 and 3% believe that they will earn an annual income of over £500,000 at some point during their career. The average annual salary for a lawyer is £51,463. 

The research also reveals that a more moderate 7% see themselves in the role of partner within 10 years time, 16% see themselves as Senior solicitors working towards a partnership, while a less optimistic 26% expect to still be below partner level in 10 years.

14% of respondents hope to be qualified barristers, 10% intend to work within a public sector legal department and just 1% plan to work as in-house lawyers. Others see themselves “at the top” and “heading up whichever organisation I work for” within the next 10 years.

The research reveals that almost a quarter of law students would like to join a Magic Circle firm.

According to Sweet & Maxwell law students value training and development opportunities more highly than any other factor when choosing roles, with 27% citing this as the most important factor when applying for training contracts.

26% believe the status of a law firm or chamber is the most crucial factor and 20% think that salary plays the most instrumental role in making career choices. Only 2% of respondents cited pensions as the most important factor when choosing an organisation to work for, which may be welcomed by law firms hoping to scale back pension benefits offered to staff.

To download the full press release and for contact details for further information please click HERE.

Law Degree Numbers

The Law Society will be watching with interest to see what happens to the number of people wanting to study law degrees in 2006. A report from UCAS earlier this year indicated a 7% drop in the number applying to study law. This was a snapshot taken at the Spring deadline and of course students can continue to apply until the beginning of term, but it might signal a new development.

The solicitor's profession has grown by more than half in the past 10 years – from about 80,000 in the mid 1990s to the current figure of 126,000. This growth has been fuelled by the high numbers of bright and determined students who make it through the training pathway. Over recent years universities have increased the number of undergraduate law places to meet the demand. So any reversal of this trend would be significant.

One reason may be that this year sees the arrival of variable fees, which will add to the considerable cost of training to become a solicitor. With tuition fees for a law degree course costing up to £9,000 and the added cost of the Legal Practice Course (LPC) running anywhere between £6,000 and £10,000, it's easy to see how would-be solicitors might have debts of £30,000 to £40,000 by the time they start their training contracts.

(For more information, please see our page on DEBT.)

It is increasingly important for students to get prepared, do research and be persistent in getting vacation and work experience placements. Not only will this confirm your ambition to work in law but also put you ahead in the race to get a training contract.

Finding the Right LPC Course

The Law Society has introduced a new element this year to help students select the right LPC course. A new grading system has just been launched, which assesses six aspects of the course - previously, there would only be one overall grading. Students are now able to look in more detail at the elements that are graded: teaching, learning and curriculum; assessment; students and their support; learning resources; leadership and management; and quality assurance and enhancement. The assessors meet as many students as possible during their assessment visit to find out about their experience of the course and how any problems have been dealt with.

LPC providers are visited on a three-yearly cycle, so the first new-style reports are appearing on the Law Society website along with an executive summary about the course. To read the reports, click here.

The Training Framework Review

This year will also see decisions taken on the Training Framework Review - the Law Society's long-standing review of the training of solicitors. Although changes to the system are unlikely to impact before the academic year 2008/2009, work will begin to make the pathway more flexible and allow people to choose programmes of study that best suit their needs.

At the centre of the review is the idea that training will become outcomes-based. The focus would be on what solicitors know and can do at the point of qualification rather than the process of their training. This would cater for a wide variety of learning styles, including part-time and online learning, and reflect the Law Society's commitment to making sure that solicitors of the future come from a wide variety of backgrounds and experience.

The current proposals include allowing exemptions from parts of the LPC if a student has existing qualifications that are equivalent. They would also allow some of the elective subjects on the LPC to be taken later, perhaps while on a training contract, or studied separately.

(Please see our TRAINING FRAMEWORK REVIEW page for more information.)

Bursaries

The Law Society is able to offer some help to hard-up would-be solicitors with its bursary scheme. It is funded by several trusts and scholarships, and makes awards annually. However, bursaries are only available to help people who have secured a place on the LPC or Graduate Diploma in Law/Common Professional Examination. To be eligible you will have to prove that your financial circumstances would make it difficult for you to continue your studies and you are committed to a career as a solicitor. Funds are limited and the competition is intense. Applications have closed for 2006 but check on the Law Society’s website to find out about applications for next year.

For information about other available bursaries and funding, please click HERE.

Criminal Records Checks

One other new development that might have caught the eye of would-be solicitors is the introduction of Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks before admission to the Roll. This year for the first time the information given by applicants about any convictions will be checked with the CRB before they can be admitted to the profession. The Law Society does not make any absolute prohibition on entry, but takes seriously offences such as dishonesty and deception.

At the moment, you have to enrol as a student member of the society before you start the LPC course and you are asked to declare any information that might cause doubts about your character or suitability. This includes criminal convictions, instances of cheating or plagiarism, or county court judgments. That's not to say that any criminal convictions mean you’re not suitable to be a solicitor, but your case may need to be heard by an adjudicator who will hear the full circumstances.

However, there are always dangers with a system that relies on self declaration. Perhaps the person most likely to cheat in an exam is the person who is least likely to come forward and admit it. This character and suitability check on students will remain. But with public protection in mind, the new criminal records check will take place once people have completed their training contracts and apply to go on the Roll.

Please see our online guidance on CRB checks.

Changes at the Law Society

The Law Society itself is changing. From the start of 2006 the representative, trade union side has split from the regulatory side. A large-scale consultation has been carried out with solicitors to find out what services they would like from a new-style representative Law Society. A new Regulation Board with seven lay members has taken on responsibility for setting standards for the profession. Education and training is one part of their remit and it will be the board’s job to shape the new training framework for the profession.

The changes at the Law Society directly affect the TSG.  Please see HERE for more information.

Changes to the Profession

The bill on the future of legal services continues its progress through Parliament and this also will bring about big changes to the profession. It is expected that solicitors will be able to form new business models and for the first time be able to work in partnerships with barristers and other legal professionals. Organisations with national branding such as the RAC and AA have expressed interest in making moves into the legal services market.

(Please click HERE for an update on the Clementi Review.)

It is a profession that doesn’t stand still. But what will not change is the need for able and committed people to become the solicitors of tomorrow. The route to qualification is demanding and competitive, but for those who succeed, a rewarding career lies ahead.

This article first appeared on LawCareers.Net on 4 July 2006. 

LawCareers.Net provide excellent advice on how to qualify as a solicitor, and have online listings of solictiors firms providing training contracts (listed by type of firm, size, region etc).  Please sign up to their mailing list for updates and advice.