Trainee solicitor

Trainee solicitor

16th-century painting of a civil law notary, by Flemish painter Quentin Massys
Occupation
Occupation type	Profession
Activity sectors	Law
Description
Competencies	Interpersonal skills, literacy, advocacy, analytical mind, critical thinking, commercial sense
Education required	Legal Practice Course (and possibly Common Professional Examination)
Related jobs	Solicitor, pupil barrister, barrister, judge

In the United Kingdom, Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland, and certain other English common law jurisdictions, a trainee solicitor is a prospective lawyer undergoing professional training at a law firm to qualify as a full-fledged solicitor. This period of training is known as a training contract and usually lasts for two years.

The barrister's equivalent would be twelve months' pupillage under a pupilmaster, in barristers' chambers, or for advocates in Scotland, eight or nine months devilling under a devilmaster.

Before they are eligible to train, the trainee must first have an undergraduate degree in law, or another degree and later taken a conversion course (i.e. the Common Professional Examination or Graduate Diploma in Law), and then completed the Legal Practice Course (LPC).

During the training contract, trainees are required to gain practical experience in at least three distinctive areas of law. On successful completion of the training contract, the trainee will qualify and be admitted as a solicitor.

Trainee solicitors and training contracts were formerly known as articled clerks and articles of clerkship, respectively.

In Scotland the system is similar to that in England and Wales. In order to become a trainee solicitor, the student must complete an undergraduate degree in law, or complete the Law Society of Scotland examinations, before undertaking a one-year Diploma in Legal Practice. This qualifies the graduate to receive an Entrance Certificate and begin a traineeship.