Employer Development Review – draft page

The person you need may already work for you

We help law firms identify who could progress, which qualification route fits the role, and what it would take in time, supervision and cost. Start with a free Employer Development Review and receive a short written plan to help you decide what to do next.

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A 30 to 45 minute conversation on Teams. A short enquiry form; no employee details needed to start.

Supporting learners across 800+ law firms

Qualification pathways including CLC, CILEX CPQ and SQE

4,500+ learners since 2015

Flexible online study

Tailored route guidance

Ongoing learner support

Our academic team includes legal professionals and academic specialists who understand the requirements of the legal sector.

Employer progress updates

Four situations we see most often

Most firms come to us with a question about people and progression rather than a training request. If one of these sounds familiar, the review is designed for it.

A staffing or succession gap. A department ready to grow, or a fee earner retiring, while responsibility and supervision rest with the same few authorised people. Who in the team could qualify and take on more of that responsibility?	Retention and recruitment pressure. Recruiting a qualified specialist can take time and carry a significant cost, while limited progression opportunities can create retention pressure. Could you develop the person instead?
Someone ready to progress. They run the files but cannot do them in their own name, or they are support staff asking what comes next. What would it take?	Sponsored learners already studying. How are they progressing, and is the route still the right one?

Not every situation points to training. Where recruiting is the better answer, we will say so.

How the review works

The review starts with a conversation, rather than a lengthy assessment form. You tell us a little about the situation, we send you the questions in advance, and we turn the discussion into a short written plan.

Tell us what is prompting the conversation. A short enquiry form. No employee details needed to start.	A 30 to 45 minute review on Teams. Led by Dino Dullabh, Co-Founder of Law Training Centre.
We send you the questions. So you can gather what you need, or bring a colleague who knows the answers.	A written plan within five working days. Where the picture is clear, your Development Plan is a specific proposal; where there are choices to make, it sets out the options, the route questions and the next steps. We send the written recommendations to the firm, so you can discuss the proposed route with your employee before they enrol.

Every recommendation is reviewed by our academic team before it is shared with you.

Dino Dullabh, Co-founder and Director of Strategy

Dino helps law firm leaders develop the people they want to retain. He helps firms compare CLC, CILEX and SQE routes by starting with the individual, the role and the practice rights the firm needs.

Connect Dino on LinkedIn here

Three things to think about before we talk

You do not need answers to all of these, and you do not need to have chosen a course. They are simply where the conversation starts.

What is prompting this now: a gap, someone asking to progress, succession, retention, or people already studying with us?
Who are you thinking about, and what would you like them to be able to do in two to three years that they cannot do now?
Which work needs particular practice rights, and who in your team carries the responsibility for supervising it today?

Your Development Plan
The staffing decision. Develop, recruit, or both, and why.	A realistic timetable. Study and qualifying experience, planned around the person and the firm.
Recommended route, and an alternative. For each person, with the reason for the recommendation.	A full firm quote. Itemised for each person: course fees, applicable VAT, external and regulator fees, and payment terms.
Entry point and exemption checks. What prior qualifications and experience count, and what evidence is needed.	What the firm provides. Supervision, study time and anything else the route needs from you.
Licensing and experience steps. What the regulator requires beyond the course, so the distinction between training and professional authorisation is clear.	The next action. What happens if you say yes, and what happens if you want to wait.

One page, written for a partner or practice manager to read in ten minutes, and sent before you decide anything. Where the picture is clear it is a specific proposal; where there are choices to make it sets them out.

There is no charge for the review or the plan, and no obligation to enrol. If you do go ahead, we send a pre-populated enrolment form for each person to make the next step straightforward.

From where they are to where you need them

Who they are	What you want them to do	Route and professional outcome	Illustrative study plan
Support staff with potential to progress	Move into paralegal work, then towards a specialist fee-earning role	Start with a NALP paralegal qualification, or begin a CLC or Law Training Centre Professional Legal Qualification pathway where the intended role is clear	36 to 60 months as a staged development plan
Conveyancing or probate assistant already working on files	Qualify to run matters	CLC Level 4 and Level 6 Diplomas, leading towards licensing as a Licensed Conveyancer or Licensed Probate Practitioner	Nine to 24 months or longer, depending on their entry point and pace
Paralegal or fee earner in family, civil or criminal litigation	Qualify with practice rights in their specialism	Family, Civil or Criminal Litigation Legal Practice Qualification, leading towards CILEX Regulation authorisation	24 to 48 months as a planning range
Graduate or experienced fee earner	Qualify as a solicitor	SQE preparation, alongside the other requirements for SRA admission	Plan for around 15 months of preparation, adjusted to the person’s starting point
Qualified professional adding a specialism	Gain the qualification or authorisation needed for additional work	Notarial academic training, immigration or other relevant specialist training	Set according to the specialism

Someone with relevant qualifications and experience may have only a few months of study left. A colleague at the start of their career may need a plan spanning several years. We work out the route and pace with the firm.

Experience and authorisation: Study and qualifying work experience can run alongside each other, but they are separate requirements. CLC licensing requires 1,200 hours of supervised experience over at least 24 months. The SQE route requires two years’ full-time equivalent qualifying work experience. CILEX Regulation requires 2,300 hours of qualifying experience for Chartered Legal Executive status; the litigation pathways have further experience requirements for practice rights. We check the individual’s existing experience as well as their qualifications when planning the route. Completing a course does not by itself grant authorisation or practice rights; each regulator sets its own requirements, and we explain them before anyone enrols.

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What we provide, and what the firm provides

Sponsoring someone works when both sides know what they are taking on. This is the arrangement.

A named employer contactOne person who knows your firm and your learners, for anything between reviews.
Help with enrolmentPre-populated enrolment forms, and the exemption check done before anyone starts. 97% of completed assessments confirm at least one exemption, and there is no charge for the check.
Study that fits around the roleOur courses are delivered online, so your employee can usually study around their work rather than taking a regular day out. Start dates, assessment windows and live session times differ by route; your Development Plan sets out what applies.
Direct tutor supportQuestions go to the tutors, with a response in no more than 48 hours.
Progress reporting on requestOur academic team works with your firm to agree what to report, how to report it and how often, so the updates fit your needs.
Invoiced to the firmWe invoice firms directly. Where a firm is sponsoring several learners, we can discuss staged payments for the overall arrangement.

What your firm provides

SupervisionWhere a route requires qualifying experience, the firm provides a supervisor and signs off the experience. The plan says what that involves for each route.
Realistic study timeAgreed with the learner, and honest about busy periods. The plan suggests a pattern for each person.
A decision on the termsWhich costs the firm covers, and what happens if the person leaves (see the questions below).
Time for assessmentsSome routes have fixed assessment dates; the course page shows them.

A funded route to qualify is a tangible offer to the people you already employ and to the people you are trying to recruit. It does not guarantee that anyone stays, but it is one of the clearest reasons to.

What firms say

From the people who decided to develop their own.

It’s worth us investing the time and money in the staff to make them better at what they do. Ultimately, they provide a much better service to their clients because they have a much wider knowledge base.

Richard Durrant, former Head of Residential Conveyancing, Boys & Maughan

Real stories

“The online resources, with tutorials and support at my fingertips, were invaluable. As a learner who needs to visualise something to understand it, I benefitted from the lecture slides and videos in particular.”

Tasha Peeters,

Switched from LPC to CILEX and completed her qualification with Law Training Centre while balancing full-time work.

Read Tasha’s story

“As I already had a position in a firm and was earning a salary, CILEx was my preferred way forward. For me, it is important to be able to earn a salary and study at the same time.”

Anthony Roy,

Completed CILEX courses in record time whilst working at Furley Page

Read Anthony’s story

For firms that already sponsor learners with us

If your firm already has people studying with Law Training Centre, the review works as a check on the whole arrangement: how each learner is progressing, whether the routes still match your plans, and who else in the firm could follow. You will also have a named contact for anything that needs sorting out between reviews, and a short employer bulletin each quarter with what has changed in routes, regulation and funding.

It is so refreshing to have direct, tailor-made course content, where a two-way dialogue ensures the best outcomes for learners and staff.

Kevin Rogers, Partner at Wilson Browne Solicitors

We have found that the courses with Law Training Centre are the most accessible route to becoming a notary. Online learning is a perfect solution for our trainees as it provides that flexibility that is crucial when they are working at the same time as studying.

Sophie Milburn, Senior Partner and Scrivener Notary at Saville and Co. Scrivener Notaries

Questions firms ask

Does the review cost anything?

Do we need to have chosen a course first?

Who should join the call?

Can we develop more than one person at once?

Do our people need a degree?

Not necessarily. Entry requirements depend on the qualification route and the individual’s previous qualifications and experience. The review identifies the right entry point for each person, and learner stories on this site include people who progressed from support roles to qualified status without a degree.

What does sponsoring someone cost?

Course fees vary by route and entry point, with some courses starting at a little over £2,000. Where recognised exemptions are available, these may reduce the overall course cost. Once the route and any exemptions have been checked, your Development Plan provides an itemised quote for each person, including applicable VAT, external and regulator fees and payment terms. We invoice the firm directly and can discuss staged payments where you are sponsoring several learners.

What if the person leaves?

Before you commit, it is sensible to decide which costs the firm will cover and what your own sponsorship terms will say if the employee leaves. We can explain how Law Training Centre’s Employer Sponsored Training Terms apply to the training place; any separate repayment arrangement between the firm and employee should be dealt with through the firm’s own employment terms and HR processes.

Separately, an eligible employer-funded training place may be reassigned to another member of staff once, subject to its substitution window, usage threshold, a written request and our approval. The original learner’s account and work are not transferred, and course access does not restart. The detail is in our Employer Sponsored Training Terms.

We are not a law firm. Does this apply to us?

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