University challenged

Ask any of your peers what they feel they are most short of and the answer is: time. Time to step back now and again, time to think and reflect. The last time any solicitor had time to think was probably on their degree course. But with suggestions that the Qualifying Law Degree is too far removed from the reality of life in a law firm, and that LPC graduates lack essential business skills, could we be about to lose what makes a law degree special?

The current legal education and training framework came under some awkward scrutiny earlier this week during a panel session at UCL chaired by Dame Hazel Genn. It is one of a number of initiatives started by stakeholders in the wake of LETR - in this case, legal academics and training providers - to start mapping out how their could take forward some of the report's recommendations.

Perhaps unsurprisingly the LLB came in for some stick, as did the LPC. BPP's Peter Crisp, for instance, said the LLB should be "more practice-facing" and that the LPC was "a compromise". Interestingly, as a philosophy graduate, Crisp said legal educators were "missing a trick" when it came to legal reasoning. In saying this, he encapsulated the dilemma with the current qualifying law degree.

As an academic qualification, it should be a period where graduates learn to think for themselves, explore issues of law and society, challenge themselves, and generally expand their minds. Alright, this may be aspirational at times, particularly in a difficult job market where the main objective for the majority of students will be to pass their exams with the best possible grade. But that should be what the LLB is about, just like any other higher education qualification. Cue the criticism wielded against the current system forcing graduates to start applying for training contracts as early as their second year.

But the LLB is also the first part of a curriculum leading to a vocational qualification. So understanding how the law works in real life should certainly form part of the law degree. And perhaps a dose of professional ethics too, and some insight into how law firms are run.

But let's not rush into pushing too much business too soon into the system. Remember, one of the LETR findings was that the system was not fundamentally flawed. The most important question to address first is that of Day-One Outcomes. Until that is fully discussed by all those with an interest in it - lawyers, regulators and educators - there is little point in looking at how the law degree and the LPC are structured. The last word on that should go to Paul Maharg, who pioneered simulation learning in the fictional village of Ardcalloch he set up for LPC students while at Strathclyde University. What is needed, he said, was a common framework, which should be developed by educators and regulators working together. Surely that must be possible.