Lucy Woodward recounts the little-known story of British prisoners of war sitting examinations to qualify as a solicitor while being held in German Stalags and Oflags during World War Two.
An article in the Law Society Gazette recently caught my attention. In recognition of the 80th Anniversary of VE day, the Society published an article highlighting the work it did throughout the Second World War up until victory on 8th May 1945.
The Law Society supported serving members during the war, addressing legal matters such as the making of wills and who would pay a soldier’s bills if they didn’t come home. Most interestingly, however, the Society provided legal textbooks, law reports, and copies of the Law Society Gazette to soldiers being held as prisoners of war. ‘Special examinations’ took place in prisoner of war camps holding British and Irish service personnel, with soldiers sitting law exams at Stalag 383 in Bavaria and Oflag IX at Spangenberg Castle in Northern Hesse. A 1945 copy of the Gazette recorded that three prisoners had passed the examination, resulting in an 100% pass rate.
The story led to solicitors and trainee solicitors in the office comparing their circumstances to their WW2 counterparts.
Whilst there is little information on what was involved in the war time examination, it is astonishing to think of prisoners of war in Germany studying for, and passing, law exams. It is difficult for us to comprehend the conditions that prisoners were held in, but I have been given privileged insight by reading the diary kept by Company Sergeant Major James R Gray – the Great Grandfather of Jake Gray, my fiancé.
Company Sergeant Major James R Gray was taken prisoner in 1940 and held in a Stalag until his release in 1945. During this time he made daily entries of both his food intake and activities. Copies of his diary, which provides fascinating details of daily rations of bread and soup as well as the regular food parcels and cigarettes captive soldiers received, can now be found in the Imperial War Museum.
Today, prospective solicitors have to pass the Legal Practice Course, or the newly introduced Solicitors Qualifying Examination. The LPC consists of 10 modules, an equal amount of exams and in some circumstances, completion of a dissertation. Often spanning 12 months to 2 years, it costs students between £10,000 and £17,000 to undertake. Because it is so expensive, it is common for students to undertake work as a paralegal, studying in the evenings and weekends. While they don’t have to endure the privations of a POW camp, current law students must combat the distractions of the modern world, social media being the one on everyone’s hit list, as well as the unlimited selection of 12-part TV series’ and films at the click of a button.
The majority of today’s solicitors will look back at the LPC (and before that, the Law Society Finals) as a time of stress and frustration, and will probably still be paying for the pleasure well into the autumn of their careers. Current students will also have to deal with the confusing cross over from the LPC to SQE, no doubt revising ferociously alongside applying for every training contract in sight.
Naturally, there is no comparison between being a prisoner of war with aspirations of becoming a solicitor and a modern-day law student. The sacrifices made by those serving in the Second World War cannot be overstated, but two things occur to me; Firstly, that modern life, for all its benefits, often makes things more complicated, distracting and overwhelming; and secondly, you can’t go far wrong with a text book, a  law journal, and a bowl of hot soup (or perhaps it was the cigarettes!).
