Code for recruitment of trainee solicitors is updated to reflect modern practices
The voluntary code of recruitment of trainee solicitors (the Code) has been updated to reflect modern practices.
The Code was created as a recommended standard of good practice for employers, students, higher education careers advisers and faculty staff. The revised Code follows detailed discussions between signatories and students.
The announcement follows the news that the Law Society of England and Wales has replaced the Solicitors Regulation Authority ("SRA") as a signatory to the Code. The Law Society, the Junior Lawyers Division of the Law Society ("JLD"), Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services ("AGCAS") and Association of Graduate Recruiters ("AGR") are now signatories to the voluntary code.
Since the SRA removed itself as a signatory to the Code in April 2015, the three remaining original signatories have held a number of surveys and discussions to understand whether the Code still provided value to recruiters and students.
Junior Lawyers Division chair, Max Harris, said: "We found that there was widespread support for a code which offers best practice guidance on recruitment for trainee solicitors. However, it was clear from the evidence that the Code, as previously written, was out of date and no longer reflected modern recruitment practices. After detailed discussions, we are pleased to announce that a revised Code has been agreed between the signatories."
The revised Code, which will replace the current Code after this recruitment cycle, has been drafted to reflect modern recruitment practices, and includes the following principles:
Training Contract Applications: Employers can set their training contract application deadline at a point of their choosing, but not before the penultimate year of an undergraduate's degree.
Training Contract Offers: Employers may make offers to students at any point during the student's penultimate year, or later.
Training Contract Acceptance: Students may accept offers at any point after the offers are made, but students shall not be obliged to accept (nor should they be put under pressure to accept) before a deadline of 15 September in their final year (or four weeks after an offer has been made, whichever is later).
Post-Acceptance: Once a student has accepted an offer they have an obligation to withdraw from the process at all other employers.
All providers of training contracts (or periods of recognised training) are encouraged to adhere to the revised Code. However, employers must be reminded that failure to adhere to this revised Code will not result in regulatory action. This voluntary code is designed to provide best practice guidance to law firms and students on the recruitment of trainee solicitors. Employers who comply with this revised Code are free to advertise their compliance in graduate recruitment brochures, their website, or in any other media.
