1. Greener grass and re-invented wheels: researching together
Jane Ching
Professor of Professional Legal Education
Nottingham Law School, UK
Access to justice, for many law students, includes access to the means of doing justice by virtue of qualification and employment as a lawyer. There is a tension, for some graduates, between carrying out the work of a lawyer, and being recognized as one in terms of regulation and remuneration. The contested space in both the UK and in Australia of the “paralegal” with no clear status, recognition or regulation, is occupied in substantial part by those who have been unable to satisfy training requirements or obtain “lawyer-status” employment. In England and Wales, with its plethora of legal professions and educational frameworks, regulatory competition also includes competition for the regulation – and the hearts and minds – of members of the disenfranchised and ill-defined “paralegal” army.
This paper will explore some of the responses to the problem of providing access to the professions in place in the UK, in the context of the recommendations of the Legal Education and Training Review research report, the SRA Training for Tomorrow project and otherwise. This will include school-leaver apprenticeship routes; attempts to define and accredit the paralegal role; the rise and rise of the legal executive; assessment of work-based learning in lieu of the training contract and the recently introduced “equivalent means” method of qualification as a solicitor.
Skills for Justice, ‘Route Maps of Entry Legal Profession’ (Skills for Justice) < accessed 8 April 2015.
Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, ‘Infographic’ < accessed 8 April 2015.
Webb J and others, ‘Setting Standards: The Future of Legal Services Education and Training Regulation in England and Wales’ (2013) < accessed 8 April 2015.
Solicitors Regulation Authority, ‘Training for Tomorrow’ (Solicitors Regulation Authority, 2013) < accessed 8 April 2015.
Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, ‘Apprenticeships in Legal Services’ < accessed 8 April 2015.
Law Society of Scotland, ‘Registered Paralegal Scheme’ (Law Society of Scotland) < accessed 8 April 2015; National Association of Licensed Paralegals, ‘Paralegal Training Pathway’ < accessed 8 April 2015; Institute of Paralegals, ‘Competency Standards’ < accessed 8 April 2015; Institute of Paralegals, The Professional Paralegal Register (No date) Institute of Paralegals < accessed 8 April 2015.
Solicitors Regulation Authority, ‘Work-Based Learning Pilot’ (Solicitors Regulation Authority) < accessed 8 April 2015; Solicitors Regulation Authority, SRA Considers Work-Based Learning Pilot Results (2 June 2011) < accessed 8 April 2015
BMG Research, ‘Final Evaluation of the Work-Based Learning (WBL) Pilot’ (Solicitors Regulation Authority 2012) < accessed 8 April 2015.
Solicitors Regulation Authority, ‘Equivalent Means Information Pack’ (July 2014) < accessed 8 April 2015; Hilborne N, ‘Paralegal Hopes to Be the First Solicitor Admitted through “equivalent Means” Route’ < accessed 8 April 2015.

2. The components of professional legal education
Aptitude tests (eg LNAT, LSAT, BCAT) and entrance examinations
Continuing legal education/continuing professional development
Investigations into fitness and character
Periods of apprenticeship (variously called articles, training contract, pupillage, clerkship, internship)
Postgraduate law degrees (eg LLM or conversion course for graduates in non-law disciplines) or JD
Postgraduate vocational courses (variously called practical legal training course, diploma in professional practice, legal practice course, postgraduate certificate in laws etc)
Short courses, interventions or assessments undertaken whilst working
Specialist accreditations and qualifications
Summative bar examinations (written, oral, by interview, by portfolio)
Undergraduate law degrees (3-5 years) which may include voluntary/mandatory clinic/placement/sandwich elements
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4. Competences
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5. The JD
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6. Workplace experience
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7. Paralegals and technicians
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8. But we are asking the same questions
Clinic/experience
Cost
Distress
Do the tests test the right things?
New “law jobs”/unmet legal need
Regulate the route or the end point?
Relationships between the academy and practitioners
Research and writing
Skills/practice skills
Specialisation
Technology
What is “competence”?
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9. “If I got a partner here and told him to share an office with a first-year associate, he’d be out the door—so we don’t—partners get the big offices to themselves.”
Faulconbridge (2008:202)
“In New York it’s different, you’re an associate when you come out of law school and yet they are not yet ready”
Law Society of England and Wales, (2015:9)
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10. Bar exams
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11. England and Wales
Skills for Justice, ‘Route Maps of Entry Legal Profession’ (Skills for Justice) < accessed 8 February 2015
However, as from March 2015, possible to become a CLC probate practitioner without previously having qualified as a licensed conveyancer. And the diagram doesn’t show apprenticeships….

12. Ability to demonstrate LLB outcomes by “equivalent means “
Exempting law degree (contains LPC) (3-4 years)
LLB (2-4 years)
Non law undergraduate degree (2-4 years)
Exempting law degree (contains BPTC) (3-4 years)
Common Professional Examination/Graduate Diploma in Law (1 year)
CILEx qualifications
CILEx Fellows (5 years +) are exempted from the period of recognized training
Ability to demonstrate LPC outcomes by “equivalent means”
Legal Practice Course (1 year)
Bar Professional Training Course (1 year) (preceded by an aptitude test
Short form LPC Legal Practice Course for BPTC graduates (various lengths)
Ability to demonstrate period of recognized training outcomes by “equivalent means”
Call to the Bar (non-practising) (subject to character and fitness
Period of recognized training (normally 2 years)
Admission to the Roll of Solicitors (subject to character and fitness)
Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme (includes other UK and foreign lawyers)
Pupillage (1 year, may be shortened for transferees from UK/elsewhere)
Period of supervised practice (3 years)
Independent (solo) practice as a barrister
Bar Transfer Test (includes other UK and foreign lawyers)
Option to practice independently as a solicitor (solo practice)
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13. Solicitors qualifying examination
Ability to demonstrate LLB outcomes by “equivalent means “
Exempting law degree (contains LPC) (3-4 years)
LLB (2-4 years)
Non law undergraduate degree (2-4 years)
Exempting law degree (contains BPTC) (3-4 years)
Common Professional Examination/Graduate Diploma in Law (1 year)
CILEx qualifications
CILEx Fellows (5 years +) are exempted from the period of recognized training
Solicitors qualifying examination
Ability to demonstrate LPC outcomes by “equivalent means”
Legal Practice Course (1 year)
Bar Professional Training Course (1 year) (preceded by an aptitude test
Short form LPC Legal Practice Course for BPTC graduates (various lengths)
Ability to demonstrate period of recognized training outcomes by “equivalent means”
Call to the Bar (non-practising) (subject to character and fitness
Period of recognized training (normally 2 years)
Admission to the Roll of Solicitors (subject to character and fitness)
Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme (includes other UK and foreign lawyers)
Pupillage (1 year, may be shortened for transferees from UK/elsewhere)
Period of supervised practice (3 years)
Independent (solo) practice as a barrister
Bar Transfer Test (includes other UK and foreign lawyers)
Option to practice independently as a solicitor (solo practice)
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15. “Few within the legal academy have experience in developing learning outcomes, measuring learning gains or demonstrating institutional effectiveness.”
Association of American Law Schools, (2015)
“Outside the United States, in places like Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom to name just a few, the battle to introduce practical skills into legal education has already been fought and won.”
Mottershead and Magliozzi, (2013:68)
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16. “There is a strong view amongst stakeholders that writing skills require further development at the degree stage, though a number of concerns were also expressed about the quality of writing and, particularly, drafting, on the LPC.”
Webb et al., (2013: 2.87)
“Legal writing is one of the most important courses in law school. … Simply put, good writing is essential to good lawyering.”
Gordon (1989: 609)
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17. References
Association of American Law Schools, Workshop on Measuring Learning Gains:  Institutional Effectiveness for the New Era [WWW Document]. Association of American Law Schools. URL (accessed ).
Faulconbridge, J.R., Managing the Transnational Law Firm: A Relational Analysis of Professional Systems, Embedded Actors, and Time-Space-Sensitive Governance. Economic Geography 84, 185–210. doi: /j tb00403.x
Gordon, J.D., An Integrated First-Year Legal Writing Program. Journal of Legal Education 39, 609–613.
Law Society of England and Wales, Global competitiveness of the England and Wales solicitor qualification.
Mottershead, T., Magliozzi, S., Can Competencies Drive Change in the Legal Profession? Faculty Publications.
Webb, J., Ching, J., Maharg, P., Sherr, A., Setting Standards: The future of legal services education and training regulation in England and Wales. Legal Education and Training Review.
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18. Jane Ching Professor of Professional Legal Education, Nottingham Law School, NTU
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