Work Based Learning: the training contract - will it stay or go?
The Training Contract: will it stay or will it go?
When speaking to law firms about the SRA's Work Based Learning Pilot, a common question asked is whether the training contract model will be dismantled by Work Based Learning.
The SRA's position on this, in short, is "no, it won't" (but other models will become available which will enable an individual to qualify as a solicitor in different ways).
The training contract: here to stay
In all our discussions with the SRA in the last two years, its position has remained consistent. The idea of bringing the curtain down on the training contract as we know it had been mooted as a possibility in the early stages of the Pilot, but since then the SRA has distanced itself from this idea.
This shift has been the result of concerns that this kind of change, on top of the core changes required by Work Based Learning, would represent regulatory overload for the profession and a 'change too far' - particularly when coupled with the realisation, which has crystallized during the Pilot, that dismantling the training contract is not a pre-requisite for achieving the diversity and access aims of the Work Based Learning project.
The significance of Work Based Learning is that whilst the training contract will remain as a vehicle for the training of trainees and their eventual qualification as solicitors, this may no longer be the only vehicle. This is the 'structural revolution' driven by diversity and access considerations that Work Based Learning brings about and in order to understand this it is worth considering the other limbs of the Pilot at Nottingham Law School and Northumbria.
Work Based Learning: alternative routes to qualification
The Northumbria Model
Northumbria University is testing an innovative 5 year degree course structure:
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a 3 year law degree (including a 3 month placement) in the first 3 years,
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year 4 = student works at Northumbria University's legal advice clinic,
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year 5 = student works in practice, completes their academic studies and qualifies as a solicitor
There are currently two law firms supporting this pilot, local firm Watson Burton and national firm Irwin Mitchell.
The model is very interesting because...
- No LPC: the SRA has exempted this model from requiring candidates to undertake a formal LPC, with obvious time and cost benefits for both trainees and employers.
- 1 year 'training contract' instead of 2: this again has potentially significant commercial benefits for employers. Work Based Learning permits a two year training/qualification period outside the traditional 2 year training contract model. Here, this is being applied so that year 1 is undertaken at University via the student's work at the legal advice clinic with year 2 based in practice.
Nottingham Law School Model
'Cohort 1' [paralegals]
NLS is in charge of conducting a pilot in conjunction with organisations (mainly local authorities) employing paralegals. This is the most radical of the three pilots, creating an alternative path to qualification outside the traditional training contract altogether, provided that the employer agrees to support the paralegal throughout the process. The paralegals must evidence the same level of competence against all 37 Work Based Learning outcomes as is required of trainee solicitors on the other pilots.
'Cohort 2' [Part-time trainees & paralegals]
NLS is also pursuing a second limb to its pilot - looking at the applicability of WBL to part-time candidates.
Conclusion
It remains to be seen what exactly the impact of alternative routes to qualification will be, but one thing is clear - the training contract is here to stay.
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