Postgraduate training
The current route As it stands, here is the required
Broadly speaking, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and the Bar Standards Board (BSB) are responsible for laying down the training requirements for qualification as a solicitor or barrister in England and Wales. The past few years have seen a lot of change in the postgraduate training world, for both would-be solicitors and barristers. With new qualifications approved for both the solicitor and barrister route, there are set to be plenty of changes to postgraduate training in the next few years. Recent changes While firms were previously only supposed to offer training contracts to students in their final year, it’s common knowledge that the most usual time for students to now gain a training contract is the second year for law students, and final year for non-law students. However, more firms are widening their sights to target first-year students with many offering first-year specific events and open days in an attempt to catch students’ interest at this early stage. Many firms are sticking broadly to the traditional 31 July application deadline, but others are recruiting earlier in the year to gain a competitive advantage, and increasingly more firms recruit directly from their vacation schemes. In practical terms, this mean that law firms and aspiring lawyers have been given much greater flexibility in how they gain the necessary skills and experiences to qualify. For example, it is possible to apply to the SRA to be granted qualification as a solicitor if you have completed the LPC and gained all the necessary skills and experience (as set out by the SRA) while working as a paralegal. Meanwhile, it is no longer necessary to gain a mixture of contentious and non-contentious experience in order to qualify and changes have also been made to continuing professional development training, which you undertake when you start practising.
postgraduate training to become a barrister or solicitor in England and Wales. There’ll be more on upcoming changes at the end of this section. For both solicitors and barristers, training comprises of two stages: academic and vocational. The academic stage can be completed in one of three ways: • a qualifying law degree (LLB); • the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) for non-law graduates; or • the CILEx exams for those wishing to qualify as chartered legal executives, which enable people who are already in legal employment to qualify while they are working (see “Alternative careers” on p46). The vocational stage involves completion of the Legal Practice Course (LPC) or Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC), plus a two-year training contract (also known as a period of recognised training) or one- year pupillage. GDL The GDL is a conversion course that non-law graduates can take to enable them to apply for an LPC or BPTC place. It is normally a one-year, full-time course designed to enable non-law graduates to fulfil the academic stage of legal training. The course can also be taken over two years, either part time or by distance learning. If you intend to study the GDL full time, you should apply through the Central Applications Board (www.lawcabs.ac.uk) from September onwards in your final year at university. There is no closing date for applications; rather, applications are dealt with as they are submitted and institutions are notified weekly of new submissions. Applications for part-time courses must be made directly to the provider.
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