Education and training – Legal Education and Training Review
Education and training requirements are regulatory tools used to ensure that individuals and firms meet the standards of professional and ethical competence required across the workforce.
As the nature of service delivery in the legal sector has changed, training requirements had remained broadly the same. This has created a disconnect between education and practice.
The LSB engaged with the review of education and training led by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Bar Standards Board and ILEX Professional Standards.
The review, the first of its scale since 1971, delivers a strategic assessment of the needs of the workforce in 2020 and was published in June 2013.
The LSB’s expectations for the review were set out in the Chairman’s Lord Upjohn address in October 2010.
More details about the review and the final report are available on the LETR website.
To generate debate and help inform the review, the LSB produced a paper which set out some of the key issues for consideration and put forward the view that reform of the education and training regime for those participating in the market for legal services is closely linked to liberalisation of the market.
The LSB also ran a series of seminars across England and Wales between February and May 2012 looking at how the legal education and training framework needs to adapt to reflect the changing legal services market.
The LSB consulted on guidance for education and training. The guidance sets out our views on education and training following publication of the LETR and before regulators proceed with detailed plans for implementation.