Can someone practice law (Solicitor etc) if they have a spent conviction?
It isn’t impossible for someone to become a solicitor with a conviction of some sort. It depends what the conviction is for really. However, a conviction for deception will make it incredibly hard. The whole profession is based on the premise of good faith and a conviction for deception goes completely against that, no matter how ‘lenient’ the punishment was or how long ago it was. I’d recommend that your friend contacts the Law Society (they have to vet solicitors before they qualify into the profession) and discusses his circumstances with them. It can be very expensive to train as a solicitor and it would be awful for him to spend all that money only to find that the Law Society won’t admit him.
