It is soon to be all-change for the way students study for the vocational and practical stages of their legal education, 14 years after the Law Society ditched articles for the training contract.

For solicitors, the current process is pretty straightforward. Students study for the Legal Practice Course (LPC) – and the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) for those with non-law degrees – before commencing a two-year training contract, on completion of which they become fully-qualified solicitors.