Plans to scrap rules that require trainee solicitors to take a law degree or formal vocational training before qualifying have been criticised for threatening to create "a breed of incompetent lawyers".

The standards board of the Law Society, which regulates solicitors in England and Wales, this week approved proposals to scrap the requirement of a rigid legal practice course. Instead, solicitors would have to pass a test on their first day in practice to ensure they were fit to advise clients.