Pre-PEAT Traineeships

From 1 April 2025, Disclosure Scotland changed the way it processes and sends Disclosure certificates. The main changes you need to be aware of are:

• You will now be required to obtain a Level 2 disclosure. This is identical to the old Standard disclosure.
• The new process is all online. You no longer fill out a form and submit it to the Law Society for countersigning. Now, we will start the application for you, using the information in your entrance certificate application.  You then get an email from Disclosure Scotland with a link to complete the application and will pay their fee, before you submit it. You will need to create a ScotAccount to apply for a certificate.
• Once you have been sent your online certificate by Disclosure Scotland, you will have to request that it is sent on to the Law Society. Disclosure Scotland will provide guidance on how to do this.

Full details of the new process are at the “Level 2 disclosure” link above.

Please note that although we are here to help, the Law Society may be unable to answer any questions that you have about the new process.  Any questions about the changes or your ScotAccount should go to Disclosure Scotland.

If any of the information on this page, about the Law Society’s processes, is unclear, we’d be happy to answer those.

Training organisations will:-

1. provide practical instruction and the opportunity for the trainee to obtain experience, under supervision, in areas of legal practice undertaken by the employing firm/organisation.
2. ensure that the trainee is adequately supervised and assisted at all times during the traineeship.
3. teach the trainee the principles of good professional conduct and ethics.
4. establish and apply systems for:-
   (a) monitoring the in-office traineeship
   (b) providing regular guidance to the trainee
   (c) appraisal of the trainee’s performance
   (d) discussing any difficulty or dispute which occurs during the traineeship.
5. follow good personnel practice in all matters relating to the traineeship.
6. provide appropriate office accommodation, secretarial support and access to appropriate library or research materials.
7. make arrangements for the trainee to attend appropriate lectures and/or training seminars throughout the traineeship.
8. support and encourage the trainee to study for and sit the Law Society’s professional examinations.

An organisation’s Training Manager will continue to have overall responsibility for all trainees (whether they are pre-PEAT trainees or standard trainees).   However, training organisations should identify a partner or qualified solicitor with responsibility for monitoring the work and progress made by any pre-PEAT trainee(s), in keeping with the spirit of these guidelines.

Trainees will:-

1. carry out practical work and gain experience in appropriate areas of legal practice as agreed with his/her trainer.
2. maintain the absolute confidentiality of the business affairs of the trainer and clients.
3. perform the legal work required by the trainer to the best of his/her ability, with due regard to the interests of the trainer and the clients.
4. undertake such research as is necessary in relation to all legal work performed for the trainer.
5. seek to acquire knowledge and to apply best practice and acquire an understanding of good professional conduct and ethics.
6. accept responsibility for personal progress during the traineeship and in particular to:-
   (a) seek guidance from the trainer, when necessary to perform legal work properly
   (b) assess his/her workload and advise the employer of any perceived shortfall or excess.
7. undertake regular personal study and/or training, to enhance the practical experience gained during the traineeship.
8. study for and sit the required Law Society of Scotland’s professional examinations. It should be noted that we do not provide any courses in preparation for our professional examinations and that a good examination record is important as it is taken into account by the universities when they are considering applications for places on the Diploma in Legal Practice course.

There are no specified outcomes for the pre-PEAT traineeship.  In large part, the pre-PEAT traineeship can be seen as providing two benefits:

1. A grounding in/exposure to the legal profession and legal work; and
2. A vital support mechanism for trainees, as they work towards passing the Law Society exams.

As a pre-PEAT trainee is expected to carry out duties that are reasonable for an employee of their experience and within the context of the work done by their employer, most pre-PEAT trainees who are already working at an organisation will, largely speaking, continue with their usual day-to-day role, whilst studying for the Law Society’s exams. 

It is recognised that it is not possible to prescribe precisely what experience a trainee will require to obtain during a pre-PEAT traineeship. These guidelines are therefore intended to be treated in a flexible manner, having regard to the variety of practice undertaken by trainers and the needs of the trainer’s clients.

It is also the case that each trainee’s rate of progress will vary, depending on his or her particular abilities. Regard should therefore be paid to the level of responsibility and involvement in practical work allocated to the trainee, recognising that they should be allowed to develop skills over the whole period of the traineeship.

(a) Legal practice skills

The traineeship should provide a trainee with the opportunity to acquire skills and experience of applying the law in ‘real-life’ situations, while always subject to an adequate level of supervision, to protect the interests of the client, the trainee and the firm.

(b) Professional conduct/ethics

During the traineeship, trainees should become familiar with the fundamental principles of good practice and the need to have proper regard to issues of professional conduct and ethics

(c) Communication

The trainee will come into contact with many people and must develop communication skills and apply them when dealing with colleagues, other solicitors, external bodies and clients.

(d) Time and work management

Trainees should be advised of the need to adopt appropriate methods of organising/prioritising their workload.

(e) Legal research

Trainees should develop the ability to carry out such research as is necessary to identify and to deal effectively with the legal issues or problems facing clients.

(f) Office Procedures

At the beginning of the traineeship, the trainee should receive some induction training covering office procedures, including the following matters:-
(i) office administration - reception/telephone procedures
- secretarial support
- cashier/accounts staff
- office opening/closing hours and security arrangements
(ii) office systems - stationery and mailing systems, including signature of correspondence
- cheques/invoices
- office equipment/IT systems
- filing systems
- library/research facilities
(iii) personnel matters - salary
- annual leave/sickness
- health and safety
- accommodation
- training contract

There is no requirement for a pre-PEAT trainee to work in specific areas of law, whilst studying on this route.  That means that a trainee can work in any legal environment, so long as they are working under the supervision of a qualified Scottish solicitor.

The Law Society has set out guidelines for pre-PEAT traineeships and these can be found above.  However, beyond these guidelines, the training experience is a flexible one and many pre-PEAT trainees will continue to do the type of legal work that the were already doing, before they started on this route.

There is no formal requirement to complete quarterly review while on the pre-PEAT traineeship.  However, we would encourage pre-PEAT trainees and their supervising solicitors to meet regularly, to discuss their progress both in terms of their workload but also in terms of their completion of the Law Society's exams.

No, the Law Society does not produce study materials for the exams.  Candidates can find exam syllabi and a prescribed reading lists for all of the exams, on the Law Society exams webpage.  There are also past papers to guide candidates on what is likely to be examined.

Past candidates will say that the hardest aspect of the pre-PEAT route is studying for and passing the Law Society's exams.  Prospective pre-PEAT trainees and firms should give serious consideration to how they will adequately fund and support a person going through the pre-PEAT route.

At the end of your pre-PEAT traineeship, your firm or training organisation will have to discharge you from your training contract.  We will provide you with the relevant document to do that.

However, until you also complete all of the relevant Law Society exams, you will not be able to progress to the next stage of qualifying as a solicitor, which would be either the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice or, applying to be allowed to complete a non-PEAT 1 traineeship.

No.  The Law Society is not a qualification awarding body.  

We are happy to confirm that you have completed your pre-PEAT traineeship and any relevant exams, if you need this as proof for another job or regulatory process.  However, it is not a formal education award, in the way that a university degree, certificate or diploma is.

No. When a pre-PEAT trainee applies to a university to do the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice, that university will contact the Law Society to confirm that the person is eligible to commence the Diploma.  We won't confirm that you are eligible to commence the Diploma until you have completed both stages of the pre-PEAT traineeship: the training element and the exams.

No. When a pre-PEAT trainee applies to a university to do the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice, that university will contact the Law Society to confirm that the person is eligible to commence the Diploma.  We won't confirm that you are eligible to commence the Diploma until you have completed both stages of the pre-PEAT traineeship: the training element and the exams.