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06 January 2011 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7447 / Categories: Opinion , Profession
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An unfair divide?

As students take to the streets to protest rising levels of debt, law schools stand accused of treating their students as a revenue stream churning out young lawyers for jobs that don’t exist...

Part 2: Jon Robins calls for a dose of reality in the legal education system 

As students take to the streets to protest rising levels of debt, law schools stand accused of treating their students as a revenue stream churning out young lawyers for jobs that don’t exist. So the new review of legal education announced last month—and welcomed by the chair of the Legal Services Board, David Edmonds as “the most penetrating enquiry” into the training needs of lawyers since the 1971 Ormrod Review—is well-timed and long overdue.

A system of legal education that seeks to equip a solicitor at the point of admission to be equally competent as a corporate lawyer in a magic circle firm or as a general practitioner in a small high street firm is “in danger of producing a lawyer whose skills

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NEWS
The controversial Courts and Tribunals Bill has passed its second reading by 304 votes to 203, despite concerted opposition from the legal profession
The presumption of parental involvement is to be abolished, the Lord Chancellor David Lammy has confirmed
A highly experienced chartered legal executive has been prevented from representing her client in financial remedies proceedings, in a case that highlights the continued fallout from Mazur
Plans to commandeer 50%-75% of the interest on lawyers’ client accounts to fund the justice system overlook the cost and administrative burden of this on small and medium law firms, CILEX has warned
Lawyers have been asked for their views on proposals to change the penalties for assaulting a police officer
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