Occupation type Profession | Activity sectors Law | |
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Competencies Interpersonal skills, literacy, advocacy, analytical mind, critical thinking, commercial sense Education required Legal Practice Course (and possibly Common Professional Examination) Related jobs | ||
In the United Kingdom, Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland, and certain other English common law jurisdictions, a trainee solicitor is a prospective lawyer undergoing professional training at a law firm to qualify as a full-fledged solicitor. This period of training is known as a training contract and usually lasts for two years.
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The barrister's equivalent would be twelve months' pupillage under a pupilmaster, in barristers' chambers, or for advocates in Scotland, eight or nine months devilling under a devilmaster.
England and Wales
Before they are eligible to train, the trainee must first have an undergraduate degree in law, or another degree and later taken a conversion course (i.e. the Common Professional Examination or Graduate Diploma in Law), and then completed the Legal Practice Course (LPC).
During the training contract, trainees are required to gain practical experience in at least three distinctive areas of law. On successful completion of the training contract, the trainee will qualify and be admitted as a solicitor.
Trainee solicitors and training contracts were formerly known as articled clerks and articles of clerkship, respectively.
Scotland
In Scotland the system is similar to that in England and Wales. In order to become a trainee solicitor, the student must complete an undergraduate degree in law, or complete the Law Society of Scotland examinations, before undertaking a one-year Diploma in Legal Practice. This qualifies the graduate to receive an Entrance Certificate and begin a traineeship.
Traineeships are obtained through the open job market and there is no guarantee that a graduate will secure one. Over the last five years, 24% of Diploma graduates have not started traineeships.
Trainees must complete at least 60 hours of Trainee Continuing Professional Development. After one year, the trainee can apply for admission as a solicitor, allowing them to appear in court.
On successful completion of the traineeship, the traineeship is discharged and the trainee will be eligible for a Practising Certificate.
Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, the route is generally identical to that in England and Wales (above), save with the substitution of the Postgraduate Certificate in Laws course for the LPC.