Plenary session: The route to qualification: PEAT 2 and CPD

Liz Campbell and Collette Patterson (The Law Society of Scotland)

This session is from the 2010 conference Moving forward: Legal education in Scotland

abstract | presentation | biographies

Abstract

On 1 September 2011, Professional Education and Training Stage 2 (PEAT 2) will be introduced and replace the existing form of traineeship. On 1 November 2011, a revised CPD framework will come into force. Last year’s presentation by Liz Campbell and Collette Paterson of the Law Society of Scotland was a high-level introduction to the concept of PEAT 2, and the Society’s new approach to life-long learning. This year, with less than a year to go before the changes, they provided delegates with the anticipated detail on how this will work in a practical sense – for training organisations, for providers, for trainees and solicitors.

Presentation

Biographies

Liz Campbell is Director of the Education and Training Policy Department at The Law Society of Scotland with a remit that covers pre-qualification education and training and solicitors’ Continuing Professional Development. Her key responsibilities involve development and implementation of policy; project management; communication and liaison with a variety of stakeholders; and management of a busy and high performing department. She is a member of The Law Society of Scotland’s Senior Management Team, Secretary to the Education and Training Committee and a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Legal Education. Liz has a BA (Hons) in History and English Literature from the University of East Anglia and an MBA from The Open University. She is a proponent of life-long learning and in 2010 qualified as a PRINCE 2® Registered Practitioner.

Collette Patterson graduated with a degree in law and Spanish language from the University of Glasgow. She trained and worked with Dundas & Wilson LLP, before joining The Law Society of Scotland in the post of New Lawyers’ Coordinator in summer 2006.

She assumed the post of Deputy Director (Education and Training) at the start of 2009, and has since developed and implemented policy for various education and training projects, as well as acting as project manager. These include the development of new accreditation guidelines for the post-graduate stage of legal training, work on learning outcomes to link PEAT 1, PEAT 2, Registered Paralegals and Solicitors’ Standards, and the introduction of The Law Society of Scotland Registered Paralegal Scheme in summer 2010. She also provides input to the Society’s ‘supporting new lawyers’ strategy, and accreditation work, led by the Society’s Development Officer and Accreditation Officer respectively.

Since January 2008 Collette has written a monthly column in the legal pages of the Scotsman newspaper, in which she discusses education and training issues amongst other things. She qualified as a PRINCE 2® Registered Practitioner in April 2010.

Last Modified: 10 March 2011