Solicitors will no longer need to have a degree in order to qualify under a radical shake-up of legal training that it has been claimed could spell the ¡°death¡± of some law undergraduate courses.

The changes, outlined in a policy statement from the Solicitors Regulation Authority this week, aim to make it cheaper to qualify as a solicitor and to attract a greater diversity of people into the profession.

Currently, the main route to qualification is for a student to take an undergraduate law degree followed by a legal practice course, or a graduate diploma in law after a bachelor¡¯s degree in a different subject.

This is then followed by a two-year training contract in a legal firm.

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But according to Julie Brannan, director of education and training at the SRA, this route is a ¡°straitjacket¡± that ¡°doesn¡¯t really fit with the modern world¡±.

This was because there were a ¡°greater variety¡± of institutions offering legal services and more paralegal and specialist roles within firms, she explained, so a degree-only route ¡°no longer seems appropriate¡±.

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Instead of requiring solicitors to go down this university route, they would be able to qualify simply by demonstrating that they have the ¡°skills, knowledge and attributes¡± required of the profession, she said. ¡°We don¡¯t mind if you have a law degree or not. It¡¯s none of our business.¡±

The SRA had not decided exactly how it would assess potential solicitors, she explained, or who would test them on their skills. It might still require them to have undertaken a period of practice before they can qualify, she added.

The shake-up would ¡°open up the market for competition¡±, she said.

This meant that universities could find ¡°exciting new ways they can reach students they wouldn¡¯t otherwise reach¡± and help them ¡°overcome the financial barriers¡± by offering less expensive legal courses, for example higher level apprenticeships, she added.

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Nigel Savage, president of the University of Law, said that the reforms could mean ¡°the death of some turgid law degrees that have developed over the years¡±.

But Peter Crisp, dean of BPP Law School, cautioned that the degree route would still remain the main way people qualified to become a solicitor. ¡°Most solicitors will continue to qualify by the traditional route,¡± he predicted.

Apprenticeships might be taken up by some, he said, but major law firms would continue to take graduates because they wanted them ¡°oven-ready¡± for work and did not necessarily want to train them.

He added that BPP was working with a number of law firms to develop a new legal apprenticeship course.

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Ms Brannan argued that currently there was no way of knowing what level students had reached at the end of their course, but a standardised test would ensure that ¡°everybody who goes through that is at the same level¡±.

The current university-based route will operate until 2017-18, she said, while the new assessment system would be phased in beforehand.

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david.matthews@tsleducation.com