Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow and Scottish Law Agents Society joint TCPD programme
Trainee Continuing Professional Development (TCPD) has been prescribed by the Law Society of Scotland as a requirement for the professional qualification of trainee solicitors. A team from the Scottish Law Agents Society (SLAS) and the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow (RFPG) has drawn up a joint programme which meets all of the requirements of the Law Society.
The programme is aimed at supporting trainees, with the minimum of disturbance to the main training vehicle, the traineeship itself. Unlike the previous PCC programme, this course can be taken largely outwith business hours.
It will provide, through a team of experienced solicitors, an excellent training in each of the main areas of legal practice.
In particular, the trainees taking the course will complete the Law Society requirements for training in:-
• Professional Ethics and Standards
• Professionalism
• Professional communication
• Business, financial, commercial and practice awareness
• Substantive and relevant legal knowledge
Our programme proposes that all trainees taking the course shall:-
• Make representations in the Sheriff Court in a contested matter.
• Analyse a model set of domestic residential missives and deal with a specific drafting difficulty.
• Analyse the pleadings contained in a genuine Closed Record and engage in legal debate thereon.
• Analyse the terms of a standard private client’s Will and adjust a variation thereto in the light of a specific instruction.
• Rehearse a scripted summary trial and respond, individually, without script, to particular difficulties arising.
• Analyse a common form of commercial lease and draw an amendment thereto in terms of a given correspondence.
• Listen to a distinguished, senior solemn trial expert describe the preparation process in detail.
• Draw a petition for the appointment for an executor dative in specific circumstances and ascertain and complete the forms necessary for the confirmation of an executor in an inheritance tax liable estate.
• Analyse a common form of offer for the purchase of commercial premises, including the business operated therein and distinguish this from a share transfer proposal.
• Listen to a senior expert practitioner describe the criminal process at Sheriff Court level.
• Take away a DVD recording of his / her own performance in specific parts of the course.
• Attend at Registers of Scotland and meet a senior official for a discussion of technical, registration procedures including the relevant, cutting edge I.T procedures.
• Meet senior officials from the Scottish Legal Aid Board and discuss the legal aid process and use of I.T. in that process.
• Meet a senior official from the Law Society of Scotland and discuss the complaints issue with particular reference to the new Scottish Legal Complaints Commission.
• Meet a representative from an environmental search company and study the modern requirements regarding the ascertainment and consequences of contaminated land and relative search procedures.
• Meet an experienced practitioner for an analysis of the fee charging process and the dangers and difficulties that can arise.
• Engage in negotiation for the settlement of an action raised in the context of nuisance, based on a genuine closed record.
• On notice given, meet a technical legal issue in an interview context with expert guidance to hand with participation in approx 12 scenarios.
This course eschews narrow specialisation at the stage of the traineeship but rather seeks to provide trainees with insight and practice over the broad spectrum of work undertaken by the legal profession. It has been our conclusion that each of these areas develops the essential skills of comprehension, analysis, deduction, argument, communication and pleading which are relevant and necessary to solicitors in whatever area they come to practice. We have observed also that this course provides an invaluable opportunity for trainees from different parts of the country and from different areas of practice and different sizes and types of firms to meet and network with each other.
The course will take the form of a series of lectures, discussions, webinars, transactions, draftings, adjustments pleadings, trials, debates, etc.
We anticipate that the programme will open with a two day conference on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 April 2012 to be followed by a series of deliveries and exchanges until a closing session around June 2013 followed by a period of availability on a helpline basis until October 2013.
The total cost per participant, including all materials, will be £900 (no VAT).
It is aimed at trainees who commenced their traineeships from 1 November 2011 to 30 April 2012.
Contact John McKenzie – gro.gpfr|eiznekcmj#gro.gpfr|eiznekcmj - to find out more or to register an interest in the programme.
We anticipate that the programme will open with a two day conference on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 April 2012 to be followed by a series of deliveries and exchanges until a closing session around June 2013 followed by a period of availability on a helpline basis until October 2013.
