Graduates considering careers as legal aid solicitors will be disappointed to hear that funding has been withdrawn for a scheme that supports the provision of training contracts in the sector.
The Legal Services Commission (LSC), which runs the legal aid scheme in England and Wales, announced this week that it would not be awarding new training contract grants this year. Grants that have already been made will be honoured until training is completed.
Around 750 legal aid solicitors have benefited from a training contract grant under the scheme, which was introduced in 2002 and has cost a total of £18m to date. Legal aid solicitors provide advice on issues such as housing, welfare benefits, immigration and crime.
The LSC commented, ‘Coming at a time when legal aid has to bear its share of the cuts across the whole public sector, we cannot continue to sustain the scheme at this time. All organisations in the public sector need to make savings and cut non-essential spending. The legal aid budget must play its part in this and, as far as possible, frontline services are being protected.’
There are concerns that the decision will be particularly damaging for small firms that recruit lawyers from less affluent backgrounds. The Young Legal Aid Lawyers group commented that the provision of sponsored training contracts ‘went some way toward sustaining the flow of talented entrants into the legal aid sector, and making sure that legal aid work is not a closed door to applicants from poorer backgrounds.’
Posted by Alison_TARGETjobs on 15 July 2010
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