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News from the Devon & Somerset Junior Lawyers' Division
News from the Devon & Somerset Junior Lawyers' Division
This month's article has been written by the JLD's National Representative, Georgia Wookey.
As National Representative of the Devon and Somerset JLD, I provide a voice to our members at National JLD level by meeting my counterparts from JLDs across England and Wales at the Law Society, London, three times a year. We last met at the end of January 2017 and as expected at the top of the agenda for discussion was the SRA's proposal for the introduction of the solicitors qualifying exam (SQE). 6 January marked the close of the SRA's second consultation into the introduction of the SQE and I understand that there may be a third consultation on its way later this year. The JLD encourage everyone to take part and respond either as firms or as individuals as the introduction of the SQE will mark a huge change to entry in to the legal profession. Should you wish to see the full consultation paper please visit https://www.sra.org.uk/sra/consultations/solicitors-qualifying-examination.page
In general, the JLD is supportive of the idea of a centralised solicitors qualifying exam regulated by the SRA - at present each academic provider delivers its own program for the LPC which means there is variation and no consistency in the academic stage of training undertaken by current trainee solicitors. However there are a few concerns and suggestions which the JLD raises in its response to the consultation, three of which are:-
1) Work experience element - , the JLD would like to see a minimum of two years 'work experience' which should be split across no more than four separate placements, comparative to the current training contract system.
The time spent in each placement should be of a sufficient standard to actually equip junior lawyers with the necessary legal skills for when they qualify as solicitors and not merely give them 'the opportunity' to gain legal skills.
2) Preparatory study - the SRA provides no information at present as to the likely cost of any preparatory training course to be taken ahead of sitting any SQE exams. It is also concerning that there is the suggestion that there will be no need to attend such a course as "would-be" junior lawyers could have the option to study without the course, giving rise to the possibility of a two tier system whereby some junior lawyers will have paid to study a course, whilst others have taken the self-study route potentially disadvantaging those from lower socio-economic backgrounds as a result.
3) Implementation date - the proposed implementation date of the new SQE route is August 2019. This start date is considered to be too soon and does not give firms or academic providers the chance to change their systems and courses in readiness for the new system. This is particularly concerning as some firms have already started to recruit their 2019 trainee solicitors. Universities are already working on their 2019 course content and some current undergraduates will be graduating in 2019, causing uncertainty for them.
I have only highlighted three of the points raised by the JLD. To see the full JLD response, please visit http://communities.lawsociety.org.uk/junior-lawyers/policy/sra-a-new-route-to-qualification-the-solicitors-qualifying-exam-sqe/5060068.article
If you have any comments or concerns you'd wish to raise with Devon and Somerset JLD in relation to the SQE please do contact us on dsjld17@gmail.com. We will keep you posted on any further developments as we become aware of them.
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