Clifford Chance revoked TC offers while Macfarlanes has ‘pass first time’ policy
In the same week that Clifford Chance revoked training contract offers of students who didn’t pass the SQE at the first attempt, the chair of the City of London Law Society’s training committee has repeated his call for law firms to adopt a more supportive approach towards aspiring lawyers sitting the “extremely challenging” exam.
“I’d urge all law firms to engage with their future talent who need to take their first attempt at SQE1.” Patrick McCann told Legal Cheek. “SQE1 is an extremely challenging assessment, testing against NQ knowledge criteria (with most sponsored students undergoing the assessment more than two years before solicitor qualification), with a pass rate only just above 50%, very significantly below the pass rates for LPC, which SQE replaces.”
Earlier this week Legal Cheek exclusively revealed that Clifford Chance terminated the training contract offering of around four future trainees who recently failed to pass SQE1 on the first attempt. Macfarlanes also has a similar ‘must pass first time’ rule, but it is understood that it is yet to make any final decisions regarding the future of trainees who failed.
