Written By Jack J Collins, Editor, AllAboutLaw.co.uk

Pay the work experience kids, says the Society!

Written By Jack J Collins, Editor, AllAboutLaw.co.uk

The Law Society has today called on firms to pay those carrying out work experience, stating that they should receive minimum wage at the very least, after a recent survey displayed the fact that many aspiring lawyers were working for months on end with no compensation.

The Society has published a guidance document, drawn up with the Junior Lawyers Division, which states that work experience should have defined time limits, be advertised in an open manner to all students, and be paid to the minimum wage where possible.

It has stated that when payment is not possible, unpaid work experience should last no more than four weeks at a maximum, and that expenses should be covered by the firm over the course of this time.

The survey, carried out by the Junior Lawyer’s Division in 2014, showed that 80% of respondents had carried out unpaid work experience, of which nearly a quarter stated that they had worked unpaid for over six months. Less than 50% of those who had carried out this work experience felt that it had improved their job prospects.

Jonathan Smithers, president of the Law Society, stated that: “Legal work experience has become a defining and important step towards a legal career, so competition for work experience can be intense.

“The Law Society guidance on work experience supports law firms to promote fair, equal access to the legal profession and good working practices.”

The guidance document stated that when the competition for work experience was so intense, it left applicants in a dilemma over to whether take unfavourable conditions in their experience, or have no experience at all, which raises severe social mobility and equality issues.

Leanne Maund, chair of the JLD said: “While work experience is generally considered to be a good thing for aspiring trainee solicitors, sometimes the reality does not live up to expectations. In some cases, candidates we heard from appear to have been taken advantage of.”

“We worked with the Law Society to produce this guidance to ensure that a line is drawn between circumstances where a prospective trainee is gaining a valuable insight into an organisation for a short period of time, and those where an individual is simply working unpaid.”

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