Slaughter and May has terminated the training contracts of two of its future trainees after they failed modules on the LPC.

Law firms have differing approaches when it comes to showing clemency to future trainees who flunk exams. Freshfields and Norton Rose have traditionally been charitable, Herbert Smith has not. But it's possibly unsurprising that the firm which prides itself on being the gold standard when it comes to black letter law takes a zero tolerance approach. Still, it's pretty hard luck on the unfortunate students who, having won the golden ticket in the law, will now be scrabbling around to find a job pretty much anywhere.

 

The news comes just a week after Ince & Co kicked out a trainee in his first year for failing to perform at an adequate level. Gone are the days of getting away with being a bit slack prior to qualification...

A spokesman for Slaughters said 'our trainees are required to pass all the modules of the LPC at the first attempt. Unfortunately, these two students did not pass. If they are able to resit their papers and have that classed as a first attempt, we would of course accept them back.'