Olswang signs up to Acculaw after cancelling 2013 graduate recruitment
Olswang has become the first firm to sign up to a pilot scheme run by Acculaw, a business that will recruit its own trainees and second them to firms.
It follows the cancellation of Olswang’s 2013 graduate recruitment scheme and the deferral of its 2013 trainee intake (8 February 2011).
As revealed by The Lawyer on Monday, Acculaw will recruit its own trainees from postgraduate law schools and then second them to firms on an ad hoc basis, meaning the number of training contracts they offer can be scaled back (19 September 2011).
Under Acculaw’s model, trainees will spend at least three months with a firm and will be seconded to a maximum of three different firms or in-house legal departments.
The organisation claims that this scheme will help cut costs of hiring trainees, which can set firms back £175,000 per graduate, according to Acculaw.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority approved Acculaw this month.
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Readers' comments (14)
Anonymous | 25-Sep-2011 10:18 am
So does it mean trainees are not gonna be paid anymore? or what is their way of saving £175 000? It is still very difficult to get the training contract and now it will become impossible.
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Anonymous | 28-Sep-2011 3:59 pm
Shame on Olswangs...I personally think that the trainees will suffer considerably and whilst the work trainees undertake now is not of the most complex nature, it will be even further diluted as there will be an 'outsider' menatlity. If a firms management endeavours to cut costs, then it should be just that cutting costs and not cutting corners....
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Anonymous | 5-Oct-2011 5:36 pm
This article is slightly misleading. I've spoken directly to Olswang and they are only recruiting one trainee via the Acculaw scheme as a trial. They will still be recruiting trainees via training contracts as per usual with the addition of the extra one.
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Anonymous | 4-Nov-2011 6:49 pm
This is certainly worrying, but there are positive aspects too: for example German trainee lawyers work through a series of placements in different firms (including international firms), and public sector legal services/the courts before they qualify. I think that giving Trainees as wide an experience as possible by increasing the scope for external placements can be a benefit.
From my own experience, the notion of trainee retention by firms, particularly in the recession, is a little wishful anyway. This sounds like it might be a good way for Trainees to increase their marketability to other firms or types of legal work in the not unlikely event that they will have to find work elsewhere as an NQ.
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