Closed Consultation

Foreword

The standard expected of solicitors in England and Wales is a high one. We have a duty to ensure that these standards are maintained, against a background of a developing legal and education market and an increasing understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of our current training system. This is why we embarked on our Training for Tomorrow programme. We have recently made significant changes to continuing professional development and launched the Statement of Solicitor Competence. In this consultation we turn to how best to assess the competence of intending solicitors.

While England and Wales are fortunate in having many excellent institutions offering law degrees and professional training, there is no standard basis on which to measure the quality of students who emerge from the education and training process. Some Legal Practice Course (LPC) providers have success rates in excess of 90%, while others are below 50%. Some undergraduate law schools require A and A* A-level grades from entrants, others admit students with B, C and D grades. The Higher Education Funding Council for England, said this year, 'the current quality assessment system does not provide direct assurance about the standard of awards made to students, or their broad comparability.'

It is noteworthy that fewer than 1% of full time students on the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) fail and only 2% of those with training contracts are not admitted.

New pathways to qualification such as apprenticeships and 'Equivalent Means' training are being introduced, overseen by a variety of providers. These are welcome developments, opening up the profession to applicants from varied backgrounds. There are of course perceptions about how such pathways and more traditional routes compare and that makes it all the more important that a mechanism is in place that ensure standards are consistent across all pathways.

With 104 institutions offering Qualifying Law Degrees; 33 offering the GDL; 26 offering the LPC and over 2,000 firms offering traineeships, the lack of a common basis for assessing the quality of output from these bodies, or at the end of the training contract, is a cause of increasing concern. In this document we are consulting on a common professional assessment, the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE), which will ensure that all aspiring solicitors, no matter what institution they attended or pathway they took, are assessed against the same high standard of competence.

While the SQE is focused on ensuring that standards are both high and consistently high, there is an important related benefit. A strong and respected legal profession is enhanced if unnecessary barriers to good candidates becoming solicitors, regardless of their backgrounds, are removed. The SQE will facilitate the development of more flexible pathways to qualification for those who are able to meet the robust standards of the assessment. We shall be consulting further on pathways during 2016.

One of the distinct features of the English and Welsh system is the requirement that all newly qualified solicitors should have undertaken a period of workplace training before they qualify. During discussions leading up to the publication of this document, many within the profession and outside expressed the view that this should continue to be the case. We shall not be taking final decisions on pathways until late 2016, but the evidence from our expert advice is that pre-qualification work place experience has an important role to play in developing the competences of intending solicitors. It is likely that we shall continue to require pre-qualification workplace experience.

It is important that newly qualified solicitors, regardless of the pathway they have followed, should demonstrate a level of intellectual and analytical ability at least equivalent to that of a graduate. This is reflected in the standard we propose for qualification. In the future, as now, there are likely to be some intending solicitors who are able to demonstrate this level of ability without obtaining an undergraduate degree, for example through an apprenticeship scheme in which workplace learning is combined with advanced teaching and learning. There will also be some who, as now, have a degree in a subject other than law.

Regardless of the pathway, the SQE will require all intending solicitors to demonstrate a high level of legal knowledge and practice skills equivalent at least to a graduate. We are very conscious that the process for qualification as a solicitor is key to safeguarding competence and quality, and great care must be taken to ensure that any changes support and strengthen this.

We are also aware of the dangers of complacency and must take action where there is evidence that change is needed. We have held extensive engagement and discussions prior to the publication of this document. We have also commissioned independent expert advice and devised a phased approach to any changes. Responses to this consultation will be critically important as we develop our thinking further. We very much welcome your views on both the case for change and our proposals.

Enid Rowlands Chair, SRA Board

Martin Coleman Chair, SRA Education and Training Committee