The New South Wales Chief Justice has released a scathing report into the experience of PLT in that state.
A survey of practitioners conducted in February for the Legal Profession Admission Board (LPAB) “had generated serious concerns about the cost and quality of PLT available in the workplace”, Chief Justice Andrew Bell said.
In The Legal Profession’s Experience of Practical Legal Training report released yesterday, consultancy firm Urbis found that PLT was seen as a “box ticking exercise” that lacked deep relevance to legal practice, was “hard to fail”, and that its online delivery had led to a lack of in-depth learning.
The survey focused on practitioners who had completed PLT in the past decade, and supervisors from that same period, with more than 2500 recently admitted practitioners and 2000 supervisors responding.
Only 43 per cent of recent graduate respondents considered assignments were practical and career relevant, with only 40 per cent considering that teaching methods were satisfactory. Only 13 per cent considered that the course was reasonably priced.
The LPAB has established a PLT Working Group of board members and senior practitioners from around the state to consider short-term and long-term proposals for reforms to PLT.
Read report here.
One Response
At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man with a “back in my day” story…. Back in my day the main route into the profession was via a four year law degree followed by two years of articles of clerkship. Even then, many of us who adopted this route felt that the part time study and five year articled clerk process produced much better qualified lawyers. Now it is a three year degree followed by a PLT course which can be completed in just over three months, or six months if done part time. There is a limit to what someone can learn and experience in just a few months, as it often depends on the nature and extent of the work which comes in. We have some very bright graduates coming through with great potential, but I cannot help thinking that the standard of education and training which they are receiving prior to their admission is somewhat shallow.