Apprenticeship question

kronsington

hi,

ok, here's the deal. i've been offered a apprenticeship with a sole practitioner in limerick. the problem is though that this person is semi-retired at this stage, and has told me he would not be able to give me the full range of experience required as set out by the law society. we have discussed how thos proposal could potentially work i.e i could be seconded out to other firms/solicitors to gain whatever experience i cant get directly with him. what im trying to find out is, is it possible to do more than one secondment during your training contract? has anyone ever heard of a situation like this, essentially where a trainee is apprenticed to one person but does a significant amount of their training under the guidance of an other/s solicitor/s? my proposed master is contacting the law society today to find out if this is possible but i also wanted to check with people here to see if anyone knew anything. i know it's not a convenient means of gaining an apprenticeship, but with the environment we're stuck in, this could be the best option for the foreseeable future and would at least allow me to get into ppc1 for september. any information or thoughts about this would be apprectiated.

thanks,

k

dats_right

You can, with the necessary consents, spend up to a maximum of 6 months of your in-office training period elsewhere other than your own training solicitors office. I presume you that you could split that period up into say 2 month stints in various offices, provided you get the necessary consents.

But, you will not be permitted spend any longer than 6 months on secondment, as any longer then that and I would imagine the Traineeship Section may question whether there is a genuine apprenticeship at all or merely one of convenience. In the current climate, personally, I'd be inclined to take it and do your very best to get as much knowledge and experience as possible, maybe keep your eyes and ears open for transferring your indentures to another firm if the opportunity arises amd even in the quieter periods in the office, use your time to read over old files in order to get a flavour of things and build up your own precedents.

kronsington

dats_right wrote: »

You can, with the necessary consents, spend up to a maximum of 6 months of your in-office training period elsewhere other than your own training solicitors office. I presume you that you could split that period up into say 2 month stints in various offices, provided you get the necessary consents.

But, you will not be permitted spend any longer than 6 months on secondment, as any longer then that and I would imagine the Traineeship Section may question whether there is a genuine apprenticeship at all or merely one of convenience. In the current climate, personally, I'd be inclined to take it and do your very best to get as much knowledge and experience as possible, maybe keep your eyes and ears open for transferring your indentures to another firm if the opportunity arises amd even in the quieter periods in the office, use your time to read over old files in order to get a flavour of things and build up your own precedents.

thanks for that. are you sure you aren't permitted to be seconded for more than 6 months out of your stated office? some people ive spoken to have said this is possible, you need consent from the law society, and to produce letters from your master and the firm that agrees to take you on for a certain period. now, i dont know if this is official or anything, just what i heard. i didnt contact anyone at the law society to enquire as to whether this is possible or allowed or what as my proposed master said he would do it. as i said above, it's not ideal and a is a bit of a messay proposal, but at this stage im willing to consider any potential options.

nuac

I am not up to speed with current regulations, but in the times that are in it the Law Society consider allowing such an arrangement