The most sought-after graduate employers among solicitors’ firms have been revealed after they were shortlisted for the TARGETjobs National Graduate Recruitment Awards 2011. The winning law firm will be chosen by an online student poll conducted by the trendence institute and announced at the end of March.

To review the shortlist click here

However, there are many regional firms away from the major cities that offer great opportunities for trainee solicitors.  A good example of this is Lanyon Bowdler in Shropshire which won the Lawcareers.net’s trainee solicitor award for “Best Recruiter – Small Firm” in 2009 for a second time.  LB takes on two trainees a year who spend time in four different departments within the firm during their training contracts.

One of their trainees wrote a blog post about life as a trainee at LB which makes for interesting reading and gives a good insight into what its like to work in a more provincial firm.  To read the blog post click here: Life as a Trainee Solicitor

These have reached such a level that the Law Society’s education and training committee has introduced an information campaign to try and address the gap between the numbers of training contracts being offered by law firms each year and the number of people graduating from the LPC.

Figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority make for difficult reading for anyone seeking a training contract in the current climate.  The figures indicate that 9101 students started the LPC in 2009.  In the same year the number of training contracts being offered by firms dropped by 32% to 4320 from 6321 in 2008.

The Law Society is currently considering what action it might be able to take to ease this situation.  One idea being floated is that they provide support or incentives to encourage law firms to provide more training contracts.  Additionally, they are considering whether they might be able to introduce ways to qualify without having to undertake a training contract.

My view is that the more information out there highlighting the risks of pursuing a legal career can only be a good thing.  However, I think this information needs to be clear and perhaps broken down more so as to address where the greater risk lies.  For example, I do not see a huge amount of risk in doing a law degree as this is a very valuable qualification to have even if its owner doesn’t go on to pursue a legal career.

The risk, as I see it, is more associated around the LPC which can be expensive and is fairly limited to training students solely for legal practice.  If finding a way into legal practice then proves hard, there will be many who become victim of this risk.

Perhaps it is time to re-visit the notion of students having to have secured a training contract before they are permitted to do the LPC.  I know this has its critics but surely we need to start a fresh debate on this given there are less than half the number of training contracts available at the moment than there are candidates looking for them.

She touches on what sort of work trainees can expect to do after qualification, as well as discussing the hours their lawyers can be expected to work and the opportunities for working overseas.  Finally, she explains the Clifford Chance Pro Bono programme which is a major feature of the Clifford Chance ethos.

The podcast and transcript appear on the College of Law website.  Click here to listen/view.

Our latest article setting out the main types of firms that offer training contracts can be found here: Law Firms & Training Contracts.

Our latest article about these necessary considerations can be found here: Training Contract Key Considerations.