Tag Results

Solicitors should abandon the concept of “perfection” and concentrate instead on improving their performance, a City training chief has said. The legal learning leader at Hogan Lovells said the firm was one of the first big practices to opt into the new non-point based CPD regime introduced in April.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has set out plans for a centralised assessment test, the Solicitors Qualifying Examination, for all those wanting to join the profession. The new exam would not be introduced before the 2018/19 academic year.

Lawyers at small and medium-sized firms are motivated much more by helping clients than running businesses, research has found. Only a slender majority said they enjoyed managing a business or saw themselves as “entrepreneurial”, compared to the 83% who got a “real buzz” out of practising law.

Alistair MacDonald QC, chairman of the Bar Council, has called for a revolution in the training of barristers to cut what he described as “astronomical” costs and increase the chances of successful students getting a pupillage. He also raised questions about the non-lawyer ownership of law firms.

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has strongly criticised the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC), while remaining tight-lipped as to whether it should be scrapped. The criticisms came in a Future Bar Training consultation paper.