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There is more than one route to qualification as a solicitor in England and Wales. This annex deals with the two main ones, via a law degree or via a degree taken in a subject other than law.

In England and Wales, the study of law leading to a degree can be undertaken at undergraduate level. Those students who successfully complete a three year undergraduate degree in law can then study on a one year full-time Legal Practice Course before embarking on a two year training contract prior to qualification as a solicitor. After completing their three year undergraduate degree, students from England and Wales would be eligible to sit the New York Bar Examination.

Students who hold a three year undergraduate degree in a subject other than law may undertake a one year full-time Common Professional Examination in law (CPE) or Post Graduate Diploma in Law following successful completion of their undergraduate degree, and then go on to take the Legal Practice Course, followed by a two year training contract before qualification as a solicitor. This route involves two years’ intensive study followed by two years’ practice of the law, together with the completion of further examinations.

The CPE course and examination were introduced under the provisions of the Qualifying Regulations 1979. The term ‘Common Professional Examination’ was used because the course and examination are common to both the Law Society and the General Council of the Bar, the two professional bodies responsible amongst other things for the education of solicitors and barristers in England and Wales. A Joint Committee, the CPE Board, is charged with the responsibility for approving courses leading to the CPE and ensuring that a consistently high standard is met by universities, law schools and other course providers offering these courses. The CPE Board has the day to day responsibility for overseeing the general operation and ensuring the quality of each course, by undertaking an initial validation visit and periodic review visits to each institution. The Board also receives and considers an annual report from each approved institution, including the reports of the external examiners.

The CPE Board is a Joint Committee of the Law Society and General Council of the Bar. Each professional body provides four members and the approved institutions provide four senior law teachers, of professional standing, to the Board. It is a requirement of the CPE Board that those law lecturers servicing CPE courses must have had considerable experience in delivering law degree courses. Increasingly the law schools and the universities offering the CPE course are awarding a Postgraduate Diploma in Law to their CPE graduates to reflect the level of study.

The CPE course ensures a high standard of understanding and competence in the following areas of legal knowledge:

Public Law/Constitutional & Administrative Law

Obligations I/Contract

Obligations II/Torts

Criminal Law

Law of Property/Land Law

Equity and the Law of Trusts

Law of the European Union

Another area of substantive law

The duration of the CPE is one year full-time or two years part-time. CPE graduates cover a significant amount of the material which would be covered by undergraduate law students attending a three year law degree course. CPE graduates are able to undertake this intensive and heavy workload because they have already developed graduate learning skills and analytical skills during their undergraduate degree studies. CPE graduates have exercised in depth research skills during their previous studies.

For all these reasons, both the Law Society and the General Council of the Bar recognise the CPE as being at least equivalent to that of a law degree. Indeed research has shown that, in many cases, firms refer CPE graduates to their law degree counterparts because they may have been educated in a wider range of subjects and have demonstrated rapid learning skills.

It may be instructive to compare the content of the Common Professional Examination in Law (the CPE) with a typical first year programme of study for a Juris Doctor degree (a J.D.) from an American law school. This comparison serves to support an argument that the "core" subjects studied in each jurisdiction are substantially similar in content and duration of study.

The CPE course requires a student to pass the seven foundations of legal knowledge plus one other area of legal study, as explained above. During their studies, candidates must demonstrate their ability to undertake effective legal research.

The first year study program for a J.D. candidate will vary slightly depending on the particular law school. In general, however, candidates are required to pass the following subjects:

Criminal Law
Contracts
Torts
Property
Constitutional Law
Civil Procedure
Legal Research

There are extensive similarities between the content of the CPE and the first year of a J.D. Both first year J.D. students and CPE students study foundation legal subjects for one year only. Candidates for a J.D. may then choose from a series of optional subjects in their second and third years. These subjects will be more closely related to the area of law in which the student hopes to practise. Examples from the Columbia School of Law J.D. range from corporate and securities law to health care and the law. Similarly, students who have successfully completed the CPE go on to study for the Legal Practice Course (LPC), a one year course with an emphasis on the practical, rather than academic, study of law, as described below. Although it contains certain mandatory areas of study, the LPC, like the second and third years of the J.D., allows candidates to choose from a wide range of optional subjects.

It is suggested that the CPE is equivalent in content and duration to the first year of a J.D. The main difference between the two routes to qualification is that J.D. candidates complete one more year of study than those English solicitors who have qualified by way of the CPE/LPC route. However, this extra year is more than compensated for by the Law Society's requirement that prospective English qualified solicitors complete two years of on-the-job training before being admitted as solicitors.

Following completion of the CPE course or a three year undergraduate law degree, students must then undertake the Legal Practice Course, the Professional Skills Course and a two year training contract.

The purpose of the Legal Practice Course is to ensure that trainee solicitors entering training contracts have the necessary knowledge and skills to undertake appropriate tasks under proper supervision during the training contract. A full-time Legal Practice Course runs for one academic year, a part-time course for two years. The course comprises the study of compulsory core areas which include Business Law and Practice, Conveyancing, Litigation and Advocacy. In addition students are required to study three electives from a range covering subjects of interest in Private Client and Corporate Client work. All areas combine the study of substantive law, procedure and practical skills work.

Following successful completion of the Legal Practice Course, students then enter into a two year training contract with a firm of solicitors. This is somewhat analogous to an apprenticeship during which the trainee must gain experience of the practice of law in three areas of their choosing under the supervision of a qualified solicitor of at least five years standing. This is usually achieved by the trainee spending 3 to 6 months in different departments in the firm (for example, 6 months in the finance department, six months in the corporate department, and 6 months in litigation, with a final six months in another practice area of the trainee's choice).

During the training contract, students must also complete the Professional Skills Course (PSC) which is divided into three compulsory courses: Advocacy and Communication Skills, Client Care and Professional Standards, together with Financial and Business Skills. These topics are ones which the Law Society believes are best studied once students have some experience of work in a solicitor’s office.

In addition, candidates must undertake 24 hours worth of elective courses in one or more of the core modules. For example, a candidate could elect to take a 12 hour course on Employment Tribunal Advocacy and 12 hours on Interpretation of Company Accounts. There is a wide range of electives within each core module from which a selection might be made to form an appropriate ‘package’ to meet the needs of trainees and their employers from the viewpoint of practice area and/or client base.

Both the two years of on-the-job training and completion of the PSC are Law Society requirements. It is the practice of large City firms to supplement the Law Society's requirements with academic training programmes of their own. These training programmes often consist, on average, of 2 hours of training per week, and are open to both qualified and trainee solicitors. The training sessions take the form of seminars on areas of academic law and practice, and attendance by trainee solicitors is often compulsory within the large firms.

     The Malet Street Gazette, Inc. is not a substitute for obtaining legal advice, and no one should rely on the information contained in the Gazette. The views and posts published on this website and the Malet Street Gazette Discussion Board are not expressions of the Gazette's management or editorial policy and do not necessarily reflect the Gazette's opinion. The Malet Street Gazette, Inc. accepts no responsiblity for the accuracy of any statement made herein, and all readers/visitors are advised to check the facts for themselves and not rely on statements made herein.  The authors and publishers accept no liability in relation thereto. The areas of law discussed are particularly fast-moving, and legal issues develop on a daily basis. The up-to-date position should always therefore be checked. The Malet Street Gazette is not connected nor officially sanctioned by the University of London.

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