The legal services market has been going through radical change. The recession, changing regulatory environment and global economic and political context have exposed weaknesses in the market and flaws in its business model.
Every profession is experiencing change in how its services are delivered and in the traditional privileges that have been enjoyed. The increasing commoditisation of delivery and the impact of technology, for instance, are pervading all aspects of professional activity.
We are seeing increasing realignment between professions, such as nursing and medicine, and within professions such as accountancy — changes largely driven by clients, both in the private and public sectors, attempting to control costs and improve service. The pace can only accelerate as public spending cuts bite.
How are law schools coping? At the professional stage (Legal Practice Course or Bar Vocational Course) the sector has coped well with much innovation and flexibility. Until recently, the Bar Standards Board and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) have been vigilant in maintaining standards and publishing monitoring reports.
The key problem is the academic stage and the state of the undergraduate law degree. This should be the gatekeeper for the professional bodies; instead it has been hugely neglected with law schools now isolated from the profession and exposed in the battle for resources.
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Law is a cash cow for vice-chancellors. There are more than 68,000 students taking undergraduate law degrees, with 15,500 graduating each year. Law faculties used to be powerful centres in university administration. Today they have been absorbed into huge mega-faculties and resources are fought for at a low level. A robust regulator, therefore, is more vital than ever.
Take staffing levels, for example. The rules for law degrees simply require “sufficient staff to meet the needs of the programme” — there is no provision for regular visits to monitor standards and quality. For the equivalent degrees in psychology, the British Psychological Society requires its undergraduate degrees have a minimum staff student ratio of 1:20, with five-year quality reviews.
Law schools are being left exposed. When the universities have to make cuts of £2.5 billion, legal education will suffer a disproportionate share of the grief — as it did in the last recession.
To make matters worse, the SRA is adopting a similar approach to quality assurance for the professional stage. There is now a massive overreliance on external examiners without any monitoring visits to ensure that the promised outcomes are being resourced and delivered.
The sector needs to heed the words of a recent Select Committee on Education and Skills: “The system ... for safeguarding consistent national standards in higher education ... is out of date, inadequate and in urgent need of replacement.”
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The author is chief executive of the College of Law