Hammonds has joined the list of firms offering future trainees cash incentives (£7,000 in London and £5,000 for those in the regions) to defer for a year. In a slight deviation from the standard offering The Lawyer reports that Hammonds’ future trainees will also be offered the option to take up a client secondment lasting between two and four months, for which they will be paid up to £1,000 for each month they work.

Although a deferral might not be the best news future lawyers could hope for it certainly beats another alternative. The issue of trainees being made redundant has not even been rumoured in England and Wales jurisdictions (so far as Solicitr is aware at any rate). However, it seems that it has caused some fear north of the border…

The Firm Magazine reports that The Scottish Young Lawyers Association (SYLA) has welcomed a policy statement issued by the Scottish Law Society regarding trainee redundancies and has called upon its affected members to contact them.

A spokesperson for the SYLA said:

“We are increasingly being contacted by members, in particular trainee solicitors, regarding redundancy, many of whom have no idea of where they stand in relation to their rights under the training contract. We are currently in the process of obtaining our own advice regarding the status of the training contract and how best to take matters forward on behalf our members. In the meantime, we welcome the Law Society’s policy statement of 13 February 2009 and request than any members affected contact us immediately.”

Last month we reported the Scottish Law Society’s confirmation that normal contract law applies to offers and acceptances of future traineeships.