Visions
Legal Education and Training Review Forum
As part of the launch event for the Centre for Legal Education (CLE), Nottingham Law School was delighted to host the Research team of the Legal Education and Training Review (LETR). Professor Julian Webb, Professor Paul Maharg and Dr Jane Ching (also Co-Director of the CLE) opened the floor to wider debate by asking for responses to some deliberately provocative statements including:
- The law degree is a form of general studies/liberal arts degree and it is inappropriate to include matters of specific relevance to practice (e.g. ethics, drafting) in it.
- There is no need to prescribe seven mandatory topics for a “qualifying law degree”: what is important is the skills of thinking, precision and analysis that emerge from the degree stage (for those who take it).
- An apprenticeship route, on the CILEx model, taking people in straight from school and educating them whilst they also work in a legal services environment, is the way forward and will enhance the diversity of the professions.
- An appropriate way forward is to set national common standards/outcomes for the point of qualification to practise in the legal services sector (as with QLTS) and assess those. How individuals reach those standards and by what combination of study and experience, is a matter for them.
- Cross-qualification and dual qualification between regulated professions should be easier. And encouraged.
- CPD for the whole legal services sector should include mandatory components on ethics, client care and, as relevant, management training.
- If you were the regulatory body (e.g. SRA, BSB, ILEx Professional Standards), which aspects of the current legal education and training system would you keep? Which would you change?
The responses from the day have been transcribed and you can read them here. As always we would be interested to know your views too, you can tweet us or leave a facebook comment with your thoughts and please remember to fill in the LETR online survey before the 16 August 2012.
For further information on the Legal Education and Training Review please explore the website.
