Your training contract

The Solicitors' Training Regulations 2009 govern all aspects of qualifying as a solicitor. One of your responsibilities under the training contract is to become familiar with the regulations and to check that your firm follows them. You should also take the time to read Training trainee solicitors: the SRA requirements [PDF 146KB], which you will be given access to at the start of your contract.

Offer letter
Once you have been selected as a prospective trainee, the firm must send you an offer letter setting out the terms and conditions of your employment, including:

■any conditions to which the offer is subject
■the dates on which the contract will start and finish
■the starting salary, and how this will be reviewed
■holiday and sickness benefit entitlement
■the areas of law in which you will gain experience, and the skills you will practise
■any arrangements for re-employment when the training contract finishes.
It is good practice and common courtesy to accept the offer in writing.

The SRA stipulates minimum and recommended trainee salary levels for trainees working in Central London and elsewhere in England and Wales.

Registering your training contract
Within three months of starting your training, you and your firm should complete and sign the training contract form, and your firm should send it to be registered with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) within 28 days of being signed. The registration fee is borne by the firm. Until the contract is registered you are not regarded as a trainee and are not protected by the Training Contract Regulations 1990, so it is in your own interests to ensure that it is done. If your firm refuses or otherwise fails to register your training contract, think very carefully about whether you want to stay with them.

Within thirty days you will receive a letter from the SRA confirming the registration and the date of expiry of the contract. If you don’t get this letter, contact the SRA on 01527 504433.

Training
During your training you should be given experience in at least three distinctive substantive areas of English law, including both contentious and non-contentious work.

If your firm is unable to provide the requisite training, it must arrange a secondment for you to another training establishment, ensuring that the terms of the training code and contract are met during this period.
As well as giving you work experience, your firm must allow you to attend the Professional Skills Course fees: the firm will pay the course fees and grant you study leave to attend.

Recording progress / appraisals
It’s a good idea to keep a record of your daily activities during the training contract, not only because it will document your work and progress but also because the SRA may ask to review it. There is no officially prescribed training record format: some firms have their own systems for this purpose (you may be asked to keep a diary, for instance, or annotate a time sheet), but, if not, you can use the Law Society’s sample training contract record [PDF 40KB].

Your firm is required to conduct at least three formal appraisals with you during the two years of your training contract (one in the first year, one in the second year and one at the end of the training period). Ideally, however, your performance should be reviewed in every seat or every six months. If you have any concerns about your training, you should raise these with your training principal at the earliest opportunity.