The University of Law welcomes the greater clarity brought by today’s announcement from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in relation to its Training for Tomorrow reforms.
The SRA has confirmed the start of a new era in the legal education and training of solicitors, with its move away from heavily regulated training courses and towards the centrally set Solicitors Qualifying Examinations (SQE).
Professor Andrea Nollent, Vice Chancellor & CEO at The University of Law, said: “This is an exciting time for legal education. These reforms are a unique opportunity for innovation and improvement to legal training. Our mission at The University of Law is to provide the highest quality training to all who want to become lawyers. With these reforms, as well as the changes to apprenticeships, there will be new ways for us to structure our courses to give enhanced legal and skills training to raise standards for solicitors to new levels and to widen access to the profession.
“Whilst we welcome the degree of extra clarity this announcement brings, there are still important details outstanding. In particular, we look forward to the SRA providing more specifics of the SQE syllabus and assessment methods. These will be fundamental to developing new courses that fit the needs of employers and students, and we encourage the SRA to give more information as soon as possible.”
Kevin Griffiths, the university’s Director of Business Development & Planning, added: “It is good news for both employers and students that the start date for the SQE has been put back to 2020 at the earliest, as this is much less disruptive to recruitment cycles and gives time to plan. We look forward to engaging with both law firms and students over the next few months with a commitment to setting the standard for solicitor training for years to come.”