The training race

Mosts professional bodies operate some sort of continuing professional development scheme and the Law Society in England and Wales has made CPD compulsory since 1985. Although not nearly as prescribed and detailed as the General Medical Council scheme for doctors, the principles of CPD as applied to lawyers by the Law Society are similar, as a continuing learning process that complements formal academic and prequalification training while improving practice standards and client care.

Like doctors, solicitors find it a challenge to fit personal development in alongside the day job. An attitude of 'I've got to get my 16 hours in' rather than 'I need to develop myself, and what should I be doing' is common, with a flurry of activity in the autumn (the CPD year ends on 31 October). Karen Battersby, course director at Central Law Training confirms this, 'September and October are the busiest times for our CPD courses'.

In addition to refreshers on core practice areas, softer skills such as project management, and people management not only count as development but deliver value back to the individual and the business. Furthermore, key business management issues affecting firms, such as money laundering are ideal for incorporation into CPD.

All practising solicitors and registered European lawyers (RELs) working in legal practice or as in-house lawyers working more than 32 hours a week have to complete a minimum of 16 hours of CPD a year. The content of those hours is fairly flexible, the main requirement being that 25 per cent of the 16 hours must be made up of participation in accredited training courses. Various exceptions and concessions are available for those who work part time or who have been out of practice for a period, but for the vast majority of solicitors, CPD has to be fitted around a busy schedule.

Record of training

Although the Law Society does not keep records of solicitors' course attendance, individuals are required to keep their own record of training, which can be requested and checked by the Law Society at any time. Although it can appear somewhat onerous, the process of analysing what you got out of a particular course or activity does at least help the individual to identify what they are going to do with their learning. Many law firms centralise these records for their lawyers as part of their overall training support. Full details of the CPD scheme and accredited providers can be found at www.cpd.lawsociety.org.uk

When Peter Honey and Alan Mumford came up with their four learning styles in 1992, the concept of an individual's preferred learning style became more widely accepted and understood.

One size does not always fit all. As Honey puts it, 'hands-on' learners prefer to have a go and learn through trial and error. 'Tell me'learners prefer to be thoroughly briefed before proceeding. 'Convince me' learners want reassurance that the project makes sense. 'Show me' learners want a demonstration from an acknowledged expert.' What does this mean for CPD? The flexible nature of the requirement does allow lawyers to construct a personal programme that reflects their own learning styles.

Accredited training courses

Although it is up to the individual solicitors what courses they choose to fulfil their requirement, the Management Course Stage one has to be completed by the end of the third CPD year. This enables new lawyers to crystallise the hands-on element of being a solicitor. The core management areas are: finance, the firm, client relations, information and people. Specialist providers of legal aid, such as those offering police attendance are required to include relevant training to these areas of practice in their CPD programme.

Given that most events average six CPD hours, many firms opt for a structured approach to CPD on behalf of their lawyers '“ the equivalent of three days' training takes care of the whole requirement. Richard Clegg, of Clegg Manuel finds this approach works best for his firm rather than relying on individuals to complete unstructured CPD. 'We subscribe to two providers so that we get a broad range of courses to suit all practice areas and levels of experience. Because of the pressure on time, we have also found that running a series of short sessions after work with a facilitator is a great way of building skills in a more relaxed environment and these events also qualify,' he says.

Sean Tickell, a sole practitioner in north London prefers going to courses to fulfil his CPD requirements 'because I like meeting other solicitors'. He chooses courses on management and his core practice areas: property and commercial work. The annual requirement 'is about right,' he comments, 'and if I tried do fulfil it with non-course CPD options, I would not have the benefit of meeting other solicitors doing similar work but often in larger practices'.

At Denton Wilde Sapte, all UK-based lawyers (trainees, foreign lawyers, legal executives and barristers as well as solicitors) are required to complete 24 CPD hours instead of the Law Society's 16. The reason for this, as Cathy Wilcox, their director of legal training explains, is 'training underpins everything this firm is about '“ respect and support for training comes from the top down'. She admits this is 'unusual' and that average CPD hours end up being around 30 to 40 each year because of the wide range of training on offer for the firm's lawyers. The training department keeps records for the lawyers and she chases any that are lagging behind.

One benefit of requiring a higher level of CPD is that the firm's solicitors have no trouble meeting the Law Society's 16 hour requirement. A lawyer and practicing certificate holder herself, Cathy loves the job, which requires being up-to-date on a whole range of legal and skills areas.

A partner from another large City law firm admitted that when he is busy on transactions he can end up at the end of August realising that he has a serious shortfall in CPD hours that need to be made up by attending a lot of courses in September. His firm runs a lot of training for its increasingly international practice but attendance does not qualify for the CPD hours she needs.

Lawyers who tread the conference platform boards themselves collect points and promotional opportunities in the process; being a speaker all counts towards the annual quota. Lucy McLynn of Bates, Wells & Braithwaite explains: 'We are an in-house CPD provider and as I give and go to so many seminars and conferences fulfilling the quota is never an issue for me'.

Although training courses are generally perceived to be the most convenient way of collecting the required 16 annual CPD points, it is possible notch up as many as 12 points through non-structured CPD.

Julia Lane, company solicitor at VFS Financial Services finds that, as an in-house lawyer, a learning method that updates her on a whole range of legal topics keeps her in touch with her profession. She uses the Solicitors Journal questionnaire-based CPD scheme. 'Although I do go on training courses,' she says, 'my learning style is more one of reading and studying and I find the discipline of keeping up to date in this way works really well for me. I also like to observe developments in other legal areas to be aware of general trends which may impact on my own area of expertise'.

The technology is in place for online learning, but at present the take-up is slow. As Richard Clegg puts it: 'I don't read books on the screen and I don't find computers an intuitive learning method'. Convenience and cost are significant pluses of 'webinars', and there could well be some future growth here '“ at least as part of the overall CPD mix. But for now a live event where information and best practice can be aired and shared seems to be the favourite solution.