Partners at the leading UK firms have come out overwhelmingly against Law Society plans to reduce the length of the training contract, according to the latest Legal Week/ EJ Legal Big Question, but the majority concedes that partners should get more involved in the nurturing of young talent.

Eighty-six percent of respondents showed support for the current standard of training solicitors receive, with 68% saying it was 'good' and a further 18% saying it was 'excellent'. However, 12% of those questioned said the level of training was 'indifferent', while just 2% thought it was poor.

These results come on the back of news that the Law Society is consulting on changes to revamp the way the training system works, in an effort to help more people qualify. The proposals would see the length of the training contract reduced from its current two years to a minimum of 16 months.

Seventy-two percent of the respondents disapproved of the proposed reduction of the length of training, of which 22% expressed strong disapproval. Of the remainder, 28% were in agreement with the plans.

Litigation partner Simon Cockshutt, who is in charge of training for Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, commented: "The overall concern is that by reducing the length of the training contract, newly-qualified people will not have sufficient experience across all areas. This will mean that people at the newly-qualified level will be regarded as much less useful. It will just push the current struggle to get a place at a firm higher up the tree."

Sarah Hutchinson, director of professional development at the College of Law, added: "I can see why the Law Society wants to introduce additional flexibility for those who cannot get a training contract, but to unstitch the whole fabric of our legal qualification system seems to be taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut."

In a separate finding, 57% of the respondents backed Linklaters managing partner Tony Angel's calls for partners to get more involved in the training and nurturing of assistants, compared with 43% who said they already get sufficiently involved.

In an article in Legal Week on 14 September, Angel called for the apprentice-ship model to be reinvented in order to boost partner involvement in training.

Hutchinson said: "It is absolutely vital that trainees see commitment from people higher up the ranks.

"Plenty of firms spend an extraordinary amount of time training the next generation. Although partners are always juggling client commitments with training commitments, their involvement has a direct impact on retention rates and the firms that trainees choose."

Slaughter and May head of training Louise Stoker added: "There has been discussion recently about returning to the apprenticeship approach of learning. Partner involvement is very important and we strongly believe in on-the-job training. Trainees need a mixture of partner and associate involvement in training so that they get a rounded view of what goes on in the firm as a whole."

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