Commencing in September 2022, the new Professional Practice Course (PPC) is a unitary course which brings together the entire taught elements of the solicitor training into one academic year, thus providing significant logistical and practical advantages to trainees and firms. The new PPC is built around our four pillars of professional development, namely legal knowledge and analytical thinking; skills; professional responsibility; and psychological development and is designed specifically to equip trainee solicitors with extensive future-focused legal knowledge, innovation and technical skills.

Core Curriculum

The core curriculum will run from September 2022 to April/May 2023 (inclusive of examinations) and will include a continued focus on such skills as negotiations, research, drafting, advocacy, interviewing and advising and presentation skills, together with an enhanced focus on more general skills such as leadership, project management, office and legal technology, and finance skills. Professional responsibility, including enhanced coverage of legal ethics, solicitors’ accounts and rules of professional conduct and law firm life, will also form an integral part of the core curriculum. These are in addition to courses, such as business law, dispute resolution, land law, probate, family law and taxation. Psychology of a lawyer and legal practice Irish will continue to be part of the core curriculum.

Advanced Electives

A programme of advanced electives will be provided:

1. by the Law Society,
2. some will be co-provided and
3. external advanced electives will also be accredited.

The timeline for the Society’s advanced electives will be from May 2023 to June/July 2023. Trainees will be required to complete four advanced electives, but may elect to complete more than this minimum requirement.

In-office training

The two years (24 months) of in-office training continues as a vital and essential vocational component of the overall training to become a solicitor. The in-office training period commences 14 days after the last exam on the core curriculum.

If you have any queries about the programme, please contact Education Standards Manager Rory O'Boyle.