Scottish law schools respond to Douglas Mill

Ken Swinton, head of the law school at Abertay University, has responded on behalf of all 10 of Scotland’s law schools to Douglas Mill’s article of 13 September.

It is disappointing that someone who has held the positions of chief executive of the Law Society of Scotland and the director of the Diploma in Legal Practice at one of the Scottish universities should express such ill-informed views as those of Douglas Mill of 13th September.

The Law Society of Scotland is very strongly committed to equality of access to the profession and equality of opportunity within the profession. It has embraced the objectives of the Campaign for Fair Access to the Legal Profession in Scotland and has achieved a lot in a short space of time in breaking down barriers by engaging with recruiters and promoting the merits of competence-based assessments and the removal of unconscious bias in recruitment selection. It continues to do excellent work in seeking gender equality within the profession.

Universities in Scotland have statutory duties under the Equality Act 2010 to ensure those who have protected characteristics are treated equally, making reasonable adjustments as appropriate. The Scottish government, through the Outcomes Agreements entered into with each institution, is seeking to ensure that those from areas of deprivation can obtain places at institutions, thus promoting social mobility and enhancing life chances.

We do not live in a command economy where the future requirements of a profession can be predetermined many years in advance by the profession, the Law Society of Scotland or the Scottish government. The legal profession operates in a market economy. It is still predominantly owned and operated privately. The personnel requirements of legal businesses can be unpredictable. For example, a significant number of trainees were deferred after the financial crisis hit in 2008. Nor could anyone have predicted the significant growth in the in-house sector since 2008.

Access to higher education has also grown exponentially since Mr Mill’s time as an undergraduate. The participation rate is now around 50 per cent for school leavers. Universities set their own standards but are subject to a rigorous system of quality assurance requiring institutions to comply with the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework and the Quality Assurance Agency Scotland and the Benchmark Statements for Law.

There is also a robust external examiner system requiring institutions to have regard to their reports. The National Student Survey highlights student satisfaction with the quality of teaching and all the Scottish institutions fare well in these independent surveys. The professional bodies set their own standards and, as Mr Mill may recall, the Law Society of Scotland has a probing and searching accreditation process which ensures that those graduating with a law degree meet appropriate standards.

The post-graduate Diploma in Professional Legal Practice is the result of close collaboration between the Law Society of Scotland and those institutions offering it. Again standards are the subject of accreditation by the Society. Over the years there has been no dilution of standards as Mr Mill implies, rather the reverse – standards are constantly improving.

Universities and the Law Society are concerned from the first day of admission to the LLB that students are aware of the prospects for entering the profession. It is, and should be, a competitive process to ensure that those best qualified and with the right set of employability skills enter the profession and ensure the high quality of legal services expected by the public in Scotland. We always seek to be realistic about the prospects of students and the alternative career opportunities for law graduates. Universities are charitable institutions which take their responsibilities to students seriously. The society and the universities take equally seriously their responsibilities to those embarking on the Diploma. As Mr Mill is no doubt aware the Diploma requires to be staffed by large numbers of solicitors who require appropriate remuneration and the society requires that is done in small group teaching. None of that comes cheap.

The demand for law places comes from students, who are responsible adults. They are provided with appropriate, sensible and timeous information about their prospects within and outwith the profession. They can, and do, make their voice heard from the NSS survey and initiatives such as the Campaign for Fair Access to the Legal Profession. It is their views and not that of Mr Mill that the universities find more compelling.

Ken Swinton

Convenor of the Committee of Heads of Scottish Law Schools