England: Law Society calls for solicitors’ consultation on new routes to enter profession

Solicitors must be consulted on moves towards new routes for entry to the profession, according to the Law Society of England and Wales.

The Law Society said the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) failed to consult the profession before deciding to focus on one single preferred option for training to become a solicitor.

The Law Society has now published a formal response to the SRA’s planned assessment options for entry to the profession.

The solicitors’ body also called for the SRA to “fully address” the concerns it raises in the paper and produce evidence to support their proposals.

The Law Society is concerned that the SRA has already stated its preference for “option three”, which would involve a series of centralised assessments for knowledge and skills against the Competence Statement for Solicitors published on 1 April 2015.

There would be no approved pathways to entry and no required courses - no qualifying law degree, no Legal Practice Course and no training contract would be required.

The SRA are proposing that there would be no restrictions on the number of times an assessment could be retaken and there would be no time restrictions on the completion of all elements.

The Law Society said this could lead to a situation where law students can effectively “bank” elements indefinitely, which they may have no familiarity with by the time they finally manage to qualify.

The society has also called for an equality impact assessment of all options, voicing concerns that removing approved pathways could adversely affect less-advantaged students who do not have access to those within the profession already, or to the best-informed sources of careers advice.

The Law Society is supportive of centralised assessment, alongside the current, robust assessment procedures, which should be maintained and improved, taking into account the content of the Competence Statement and new routes into the profession.

Law Society president Jonathan Smithers said: “The SRA is responsible for the quality of the legal education and training undertaken by those entering the profession.

“Our concerns are based on the fact that here is very little detail to their proposals. This backs up what we said in July - that the global reputation of UK law would be ‘under threat’ if the qualification is watered down.

“Of particular concern to firms is the possibility that the internationally respected period of workplace learning may be abolished.”

Mr Smithers added: “It is simply not appropriate for the regulator to narrow the range of options on the basis of their own preference, having merely conducted a cursory and informal engagement exercise. A proper consultation process on such a fundamental issue for the profession is essential.

“In 2013 a thorough, evidence-based review of education and training requirements across legal services in England and Wales, known as the Legal Education and Training Review (LETR), found that that the current system is not fundamentally broken.

“We are recommending that the current system be improved and that current assessment procedures are enhanced in order to provide the reassurances desired by the SRA.”

The Law Society’s preferred approach on new routes for entry to the profession includes: