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In Training

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
AuthorDavid Kirk
DOI10.1350/jcla.2010.74.2.618
Published date01 April 2010
Date01 April 2010
Subject MatterOpinion
JCL 74(2) dockie..JCL618 Opinion - Kirk .. Page91 OPINION
In Training
David Kirk*
Chief Criminal Counsel, Financial Services Authority
Access to a legal career has always been difficult, whichever branch of
the profession, and whichever speciality, a student lawyer might choose.
But present conditions are probably as difficult as they have ever been.
In the current economic downturn many law firms face seriously
shrinking business opportunities and fee income, and the Bar is having
to deal with the twin demons of reduction in legal aid rates and the rise
of the Higher Court Advocate (HCA). The effects are felt at all levels of
seniority, but the major squeeze is at entrance level. Law firms are not
taking on as many trainees or recruiting as many newly qualified
solicitors. Training contracts have been deferred for a year, with the
result that there will be a bulge over the next 18 months. It would take
a brave man to predict an improvement within the next five years—
even though experience from previous recessions would show that the
market often bounces back unexpectedly quickly.
The current problem is particularly acute in the criminal law. The
changes to criminal legal aid funding following various reviews, includ-
ing the Carter Review of Legal Aid Procurement in July 2006 (‘A
market-based approach to reform’),1 have radically changed the land-
scape for criminal legal aid practices, and reduced the opportunities for
solicitors at entrance level. Junior barristers, who used to cut their teeth
on short trials in the magistrates’ courts and Crown Courts, both prose-
cuting and defending, have seen that work virtually taken over by
Crown Prosecution Service HCAs and solicitor advocates.
At the same time, legal training courses are thriving, as university
graduates, unable to find jobs in the traditional graduate market, defer
the problem by getting a legal qualification. This is not, however, an easy
route to success, and this subject is of acute personal interest as number
2 Kirk son embarks on the...

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