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Practice Management, GDPR, Supervision and watch this space for our Introduction to Legal Aid short courses

LAPG Certificate in Practice Management

CPM Delegates (L-R) Ola Alalade, Dr Laura Janes, Jenny Beck, Craig Keenan and Holly Sherratt receive their certificates from Lord Bach at the 2017 LAPG Conference
Photo: Robert Aberman

Successfully piloted in 2015, the Certificate in Practice Management combines face-to-face training with online learning and materials to provide an accessible and affordable management training programme for busy lawyers and practice managers.


Download the Brochure for more information: LAPG CPM

‘I would recommend the CPM to other people, especially people who are relatively new to management.’ (Newly qualified solicitor) ‘I really enjoyed it, I thought it was great.’ (Manager with over 10 years’ experience)

Almost 90% of employers said they noticed that their colleague had increased confidence after the course and 100% said their management skills had improved.

The course trainers include: Matthew Howgate, Vicky Ling and Jo Edwards.

The CPM provides 50 hours of specialist training including both active face-to-face sessions and online. The full course fee is £999 for LAPG members and £1,299 for non-members, which covers face-to-face and online course work, printed training materials, three text books (including the LAG Legal Aid Handbook), ‘grab and go’ guides, buffet lunches and refreshments.

Attend the whole course to receive the Certificate or each individual session as a discrete training course.  Attending individual sessions also earns you credits towards the full Certificate if you need the flexibility to complete the Certificate over a longer period of time.

We have just concluded the 2019/20 course and are planning our 2020/21 course in London:

Session 1: Financial and Resource Management – September 2020

Session 2: Business Planning and Risk Management – October 2020

Session 3: Legal Aid Contracting and Developing Profile – 22 November 2020

Session 4: Managing People – January 2021

NfP Session: See below for potential topics – Date TBC (NfP participants only)

CONTENT SPECIFIC TO NFP PROVIDERS

Thanks to the Future Advice Fund for supporting us to develop new NfP-specific content.  This is additional content for NfP participants only and is provided at no extra cost.  The additional topics may include:

  • innovation and new ways of working
  • generating income and reducing expenditure
  • governance
  • performance management in an NfP context
  • raising profile through online presence, social media and other marketing techniques
  • strategic fundraising

If you would like to discuss the course or book your place please email chris.minnoch@lapg.co.uk.

Practical tools you can use from day 1! The course is designed around the Law Society LEXCEL standard (Version 6), the Specialist Quality Mark and the SRA competence framework.

The programme covers key areas including strategy, business planning and marketing, financial management, management information and dashboards, people and performance management, information management, compliance and risk management. For legal aid practitioners, it also covers managing a legal aid contract and working with the Legal Aid Agency.

Comments from delegates on previous courses:

‘Your training and support of our practice manager seems to have revolutionised our legal aid work and significantly increased our billing last year.’

‘We’ve got a website but we’re not maximizing it. The session gave us tools we will use. Will really help.’

‘I thought the session was a bit different – interesting. We’re introducing dashboards at partnership and team level; time targets, costs and average fees.’

‘I can now critique and analyse our accounts.’

‘We have changed the way supervision is structured.’

Legal Aid Supervision Course

Make sure you comply with the 2018 Civil Contract and 2017 Crime Contract

If you need to attend a course to qualify as a legal aid supervisor, or check that you are up to date with the latest requirements, this is the course for you! Legal aid supervisors need knowledge of their subject and practice experience, which we can’t do for you; but if you are new to supervision, or haven’t supervised a full-time equivalent caseworker in the past 5 years, this course will ensure you meet the LAA’s Generic Supervisor Requirements (Section 2(ii) of the Supervisor Self-Declaration Forms).

Download the flyer for the full course content.

Dates, venues and prices:

Following the success of our supervision courses over the last year, with 220 lawyers trained in London, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle, we have now scheduled courses for:

If there is significant demand we will also look to schedule a course outside of London. Please contact us if you would like us to organise a course in your locality.

Contact us if you have any questions about these courses or would like to add your name to the waiting list.

£210 for LAPG members; £245 for non-members

If you can’t pay online, contact LAPG CEO, Chris Minnoch, on chris.minnoch@lapg.co.uk to book your place.

Many thanks to Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, Irwin Mitchell, NE Law Centre and Slater and Gordon for hosting our recent courses.

LAPG short and pop-up courses  – GDPR, NfP Governance, Civil Contract Compliance and more

Our training programme is constantly evolving to meet the needs of legal aid practitioners.  We off full-day, half-day and evening courses and we are developing online modules to enable you to access training at your convenience.  This year we can offer courses on:

  • GDPR
  • the changes introduced by the 2018 Civil Contract
  • governance and regulatory issues for NfP advice provider
  • maximising your billing

Contact chris.minnoch@lapg.co.uk to discuss our courses or your organisation’s training needs.

Training & Support Programme for NfP Advice Providers

LAPG has been commissioned by the Legal Education Foundation to deliver a training and support programme drawing on the resources and best practice developed under the Future Advice Fund.  The Fund has closed to new applications but over 40 projects across the country have explored the themes of:

  • developing, implementing and replicating ideas for restructuring and organizational development that seek to put agencies on a more sustainable footing
  • generating tools, resources and lessons on the future sustainability of advice services that benefit the wider advice sector
  • using results from this program to influence the policy and funding environment for advice.

LAPG will now be using the resources developed by FAF projects to deliver a series of workshops and provide dedicated support to enable NfP advice providers to implement positive change.  We have now delivered four workshops, focusing on innovative ways of generating income and developing profile using social media and online platforms.  We have provided introductory sessions and more intensive workshops designed to help participants build new ideas into their strategic plans.

Our last workshop: NFP Advice Agencies – 2 April 2019 – covered:

  • SRA regulation
  • Governance
  • HR – effective support structures

Venue: Herbert Smith Freehills, London

Pop-Up post-LASPO Briefings

Since 1st April 2013 we’ve had a constant stream of emails from practitioners asking for guidance and help with LASPO and LAA related issues. We offer catch-up training on the post-LASPO civil legal aid scheme and the LAA’s approach.  Please email us your post-LASPO challenges and we will aim to cover them in any future courses. Many thanks to Bindmans, QualitySolicitors Jackson Canter, Shelter and Bindmans for hosting our Pop-Up course of 2016, in London, Liverpool, Manchester and Bristol respectively.  The courses were a real success, with excellent feedback from delegates.

As your representative, we are in constant contact with the Law Society, the Legal Aid Agency and other representative bodies and are directly involved in key meetings and briefings. We will share information gathered in those meetings at these pop-up sessions. The training will be delivered by our Director, Carol Storer, and by Matthew Howgate, LAPG committee member and legal aid consultant. We also host a social after the briefing to give an opportunity for an informal discussion with Carol and Mathew as well as an opportunity to exchange and share local information.

Trainers Matt Howgate and Carol Storer will cover as many aspects of civil legal aid work as can be packed into two hours. Last time we ran this course we covered CCMS, domestic violence evidential requirements, judicial review changes, residence test, top tips from the LAA, audits and peer reviews, financial eligibility and much more. We will update those subjects and add in whatever you want so if you book on the course let us know what you want us to cover. There will be drinks and nibbles afterwards for people to relax and chat. The briefings will accrue two hours for your Training Record. Cost £30 incl. VAT for members £50 incl. VAT for non-members.

Over the course of August and September 2017 we plan to run a series of courses covering the upcoming Civil Contract tender round and the changes that will be introduced by the 2018 Civil Contract.  Look out for further details soon.

Our next course will take place in the autumn of 2017.  Look out for further details soon.

Management Course: Stage 1

This was a compulsory course to be undertaken by solicitors between qualification and the end of the third year of practice.

We are not currently running this course and have incorporated the relevant elements into the LAPG Certificate in Practice Management.

We can tailor our training courses to suit your needs. Speak to us about tailored training and in-house courses.

LAPG is always happy to develop courses for members and to run courses in-house. Please contact us to discuss courses and prices office@lapg.co.uk