SRA consults on removing requirement to do Management Course Stage 1
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is consulting on a proposal to remove the requirement for solicitors to undertake Management Course Stage 1.
The regulator said the move would allow solicitors to choose when to undertake management training and to decide the level of training that they need.
“In removing this requirement, we will also be removing regulation to undertake a separate English Language test for non-EEA international applicants, which removes the restriction on the maximum number of assessment attempts permitted in a five-year period,” it said.
In its latest set of proposed changes to the education and training regulations, the SRA is consulting on:
- Recognising Welsh language skills as an outcome of the SRA’s education and training regulations as an alternative to English language skills for solicitors practising in Wales. “This will give Welsh-only speaking solicitors the same right to practise in Wales as English speaking solicitors”;
- Removing requirements for qualified lawyers overseas to have a certificate issued by the SRA confirming their eligibility to sit the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme Assessment (QLTS).
The SRA said the proposals were “largely a consequence of recent changes we have made to education and training regulations in relation to student enrolment and CPD and reflect the need to ensure that other education and training requirements are consistent with those changes.
“If adopted, they will remove unnecessary cost from the process of qualifying as a solicitor through the QLTS and from post-qualification training.”
Julie Brannan, Director of Education and Training at the SRA, said: "These proposals are part of our on-going project to streamline training regulations and remove bureaucratic processes so as to focus our attention more rigorously on assuring standards."
The consultation runs until 17 November 2014 and can be seen here.