Lawyers call for subsidised criminal traineeships

Ian Moir

Many criminal defence firms cannot afford to take on trainees, despite a willingness on the part of law students to become criminal practitioners.

In contrast, the last recruitment round at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service saw 16 trainees taken on. They receive a salary of £19,295 for their first year of training and £22,500 for their second year.

Ian Moir tweeted that he had “raised this possibility” with the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) and the Scottish government. He added: “I am acutely aware of the need to support legal aid firms to be able to take on trainees.”

His response came following the suggestion of aspiring criminal lawyer, Maureen Duffy, who tweeted: “I don’t know if this is too radical but for those of us who would love a criminal traineeship, in the interests of justice perhaps the [Scottish government] could set up a scheme to subsidise criminal traineeships for (SLAB funded) defence firms, to address disparity with COPFS?”

Figures from SLAB show that there has been 16 per cent drop in fees paid to solicitors in the 26-week period from the start of March to the end of August 2020 as compared with 2019 – a decline of £6.5 million.

SLAB said there was a steep decline in summary complaint applications in March and levels remained below 400 per week through April but they have increased strongly since then and in recent weeks they have been above 2019 levels.

Andrew Alexander, head of policy at the Law Society of Scotland, told Scottish Legal News: “Taking on a trainee is a major financial commitment for any legal firm but particularly for smaller high street businesses.

“Given the slowdown in court business and a still uncertain outlook, there is a real risk that firms simply do not have the resources to take on trainees this year.

“This risks leaving diploma graduates without an opportunity to enter the profession and could create a major gap in legal aid provision in the years to come. We will be discussing the issue with the Scottish Legal Aid Board and the Scottish government.”