header-logo header-logo

Democracy or dumbing down?

26 April 2013 / Sir Geoffrey Bindman KC
Issue: 7557 / Categories: Opinion , Training & education , Profession
printer mail-detail

What is the motive behind legal apprenticeships, asks Geoffrey Bindman QC

The announcement by the skills minister, Matthew Hancock, that the government will expand apprenticeships to allow lawyers to qualify without a university degree, seemed at first sight curiously retrograde. When I qualified as a solicitor in 1959, a number of my contemporaries had gone straight from school at age 16 into articles. Others—the “ten year men”—with long service as managing clerks, were able to qualify without articles. All had to pass the final examination. By the 1970s, however, a degree had become a condition of admission to the profession, except for a few who had reached the highest standard demanded by the (now Chartered) Institute of Legal Executives. Hancock’s ideas are already foreshadowed in schemes adopted by such firms as Irwin Mitchell and Pinsent Masons to take advantage of the CILEX route to qualification.

Of course it only became practicable to insist on a university degree when there were sufficient places to provide an adequate flow of recruits to the

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
The Court of Protection has ruled in Macpherson v Sunderland City Council that capacity must be presumed unless clearly rebutted. In this week's NLJ, Sam Karim KC and Sophie Hurst of Kings Chambers dissect the judgment and set out practical guidance for advisers faced with issues relating to retrospective capacity and/or assessments without an examination
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
back-to-top-scroll