The Supreme Court (Legal Practitioner Admission) Amendment Rule (No 2) 2005 implemented new arrangements for the replacement of the former articled clerk scheme with a new trainee scheme.
It provided for:
- the replacement of 2 and 5 year articles of clerkship with traineeships (for a minimum of 1 year) meeting the practical legal training standards specified in the current rules
- a widening of the eligibility of practitioners to supervise trainees from principals in practice for 3 years to also include other practitioners with 5 years of legal practice (at least 3 years as a solicitor)
- the number of traineeships for a law office to generally be 1 trainee per eligible supervisor (except where the status quo of 2 trainees per eligible principal would allow for more trainees to be engaged)
- practitioners to be disqualified from supervising for 3 years after recommencing practice after a disciplinary order is made for the practitioner to be removed from the roll, suspended or not issued with a practising certificate
- transitional arrangements for existing articled clerks and judges' associates to qualify for admission on the basis of the former rules without being required to meet the new standards
- articled clerks to be able to switch to a traineeship and have 1 month for every 3 months in articles (to a maximum of 6 months) counted towards their traineeships.
Notice of Traineeship $67 — Effective 1 July 2022
Law practices/offices planning to engage a trainee need to be familiar with the requirements for admission under Chapter 2 Part 3 of the Legal Profession Act 2007 and Supreme Court (Admission) Rules 2004.