Training Contract Grant Scheme

About the scheme

Since 2002 the LSC has been awarding Training Contract Grants to organisations committed to legal aid work, by supporting them in recruiting and retaining their next generation of legal aid lawyers. So far, over £18 million has been invested in the scheme, enabling around 750 legal aid solicitors to benefit from a Training Contract Grant.

Each scheme has provided:

a package of over £20,000 per grant
a commitment to support a student and organisation through the Legal Practice Course (LPC), Training Contract and Professional Skills Course.

The grant covers:

A contribution to tuition fees of full-time/part-time students on the LPC where eligible
100% Professional Skills Course fees
A contribution towards the salary cost for the duration of the training contract

How the scheme makes a difference

The scheme can provide funding to both a student and legal aid organisation and ensures development of next generation of solicitors in legal aid.

A Training Contract Grant has supported Bilkiss Bashir, currently a trainee with Switalskis Solicitors.

She says, "I have always been passionate about pursing a career in the legal profession and more specifically about promoting and facilitating equal access to justice for all. I wanted to specialise into an area where I could make a real difference with the work I was doing. The scheme has ensured that many more firms can afford to accommodate future legal aid solicitors and support them through their training stage”.

A casestudy of Bilkiss's experience during her legal aid career to date can be found in the documents section of this page along with casestudies of many other LSC funded trainees.

Interested in applying?

Organisations

We can’t give more information about the next scheme at this stage but detailed information will be on our website by the end of June.

If you wish to receive an application pack once available, please complete the ‘Registration of Interest’ form which can be found in the documents section at the top of this page and submit to the North West Regional Office for the attention of Kim Moores.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for a Training Contract Grant, an organisation must:

hold a LSC Unified Contract
and be able to meet the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) requirements to provide a training contract.

The grants are aimed at legal aid organisations which are committed to provision of advice to legally aided clients and want to influence the next generation of legal advisers.

The grant requires committing to a 4 year relationship with the LSC.
As the scheme is designed to increase the number of training contracts offered within legal aid organisations, the grant must be used to fund a new training contract.
Applications cannot be accepted for training contracts which are already in place.

Each year the scheme is over subscribed therefore further criteria will be set prior to the launch of the scheme to ensure that the grants are awarded in areas where they will be of most benefit.

Students / Potential Trainees

A career in legal aid, helping some of the most vulnerable people in society, can be challenging, interesting and very rewarding. Case studies of some of the LSC funded trainees detailing their experiences in legal aid so far can be found in the document section on this page.

If you are interested in a career in legal aid and are looking for a training contract, you will need to apply directly to the organisations who are awarded a grant under our Training Contract Grant Scheme.
The grants are awarded directly to legal aid organisations, who then recruit a trainee using their own recruitment processes.
Full details of the criteria you need to meet to be eligible to apply for an LSC sponsored training contract will be published on this website when the next scheme is launched.

Once the grants have been awarded a list of successful organisations will be published on the website along with the contact details of each firm.

For more information

Full details of the next scheme are not yet available however if you have any questions regarding the scheme, please contact:

Kim Moores
Legal Services Commission
2nd Floor, Lee House
90 Great Bridgewater Street
Manchester
M1 5JW DX 14343 Manchester 1

Tel: 0161 244 5027

E-mail: kim.moores@legalservices.gov.uk

or Sarah Brewster
Legal Services Commission
QED
4 Abbey Orchard Street
London
SW1P 2BS
DX 328 London

Tel: 0207 783 7415

E-mail: sarah.brewster@legalservices.gov.uk

Promotion at Universities

During 2008 and 2009 the Training Contract Grants team has focused on engaging with universities and the 3rd sector.

The aim was to increase knowledge of and promote careers in legal aid to diverse individuals and increase awareness of the Training Contract Grant Scheme.
Many trainees funded by the scheme have been eager to help to assist with this and are attending career fairs and events within universities to promote legal aid careers.
Many trainees have also provided casestudies of their experiences to date in their legal aid careers.
These casestudies can be found in the documents section on the right hand side of this page.

If you would like to obtain more information for your University or arrange for a talk on legal aid please contact Kim Moores or Sarah Brewster.

Seeking stakeholders' views on the scheme

In 2007 an evaluation of the Training Contracts Grant Scheme was carried out by independent researchers. That evaluation has fed into the 2008 scheme. A dialogue about the scheme has been ongoing with key stakeholders and this will continue during the 2009 scheme.

Legal Aid - The Next Generation conference

On14th October 2008 nearly 40 trainees from all over England and Wales converged on St Hugh’s College Oxford for the first-ever conference for trainee solicitors on the LSC’s Training Contracts Grants Scheme.

A report on the conference can be found in the documents panel on the right hand side of this page.

Following the success of this event, on 20th April 2009 trainees funded by the 2008 scheme attended a conference to celebrate their success. This included many guest speakers and workshops covering a range of practical legal aid topics. This also provided trainees with the opportunity to put questions to the panel of speakers and to meet other trainees funded by the scheme.

A report on this event can also be found in the documents panel on this page.

Legal aid contracts information

If you are a solicitor’s firm or a not-for-profit organisation interested in obtaining a LSC contract, please contact your LSC Regional Office.

Last updated: 09 June 2009