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Conduct of Solicitors” (which includes codes governing cross-border
work). If solicitors fail to abide by the rules of conduct they can suffer a
range of penalties from a rebuke to being struck off the Roll, which means
they can no longer work as lawyers.
There is a special agency of the Law Society, the Solicitors
Complaints Bureau, which investigates complaints of professional
misconduct. If the Bureau finds that there is a serious case to answer, the
solicitor may be brought before a special court, the Solicitors’ Disciplinary
Tribunal. Solicitors must have professional Indemnity Insurance and must
also contribute to the Compensation Fund, which ensures that if a solicitor
is dishonest the public will not suffer financially.
Solicitors have unlimited liability except in relation to advocacy.
Both the Indemnity Insurance and Compensation Funds are administered
by the Law Society.

Task 10. Read the text and discuss it in the form of the dialogue, using
clichés, set expressions and phrases given below.

Training
The training of solicitors is stringent. Most solicitors are law
graduates, although some are qualified in other disciplines (which the Law
Society considers equivalent in academic rigor). Those, who have
graduated in other subjects, are obliged to take the Common Professional
Examination (CPE), a one year course, which instructs them in the
principles of law. At this point, a trainee lawyer can choose whether to
become a solicitor or a barrister. In the latter case, the further period of
training before qualification will be somewhat shorter.
Both law graduates and CPE students must complete a further
course equivalent to a year’s full-time study, the Law Society’s Legal
Practice Course. This further year of training balances substantive law,
practice and procedure, with at least 25% of time spent acquiring skills
like drafting, interviewing, negotiation, advocacy and legal research.
Students are also instructed in the keeping of accounts and professional
ethics, particularly important because solicitors generally handle large
amounts of clients’ money. At the end of the course, students are
examined in the four compulsory substantive law subjects (Conveyancing;
Wills, Probate and Administration; Business Law and Practice; Litigation

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