NatWest has recently decided that it will withdraw its Professional Trainee Loan scheme for students studying the Legal Practice Course and the bar’s equivalent course.

It declined to say exactly why it had taken the decision to no longer offer the product to new customers, citing commercial confidentiality, but one possible reason could be the fact that not enough of the students taking on these loans are actually going on to get the lucrative professional jobs anticipated.

The Law Society and Junior Lawyers Division have rightly expressed concerns that without access to preferential loans, it will become even harder for those unable to benefit from the ‘bank of mum and dad’ (as JLD’s Kevin Poulter puts it) to get a foothold in the profession.

That is a real concern.

But there could be an upside.

As we all know, many of those who pay out thousands to fund the LPC course themselves will never ultimately manage to find a training contract – there just aren’t enough out there. But they end up saddled with huge debts.

These people are already denied access to the profession, by virtue of the fact that there is simply too much competition for a place.

Isn’t it better, in that case, that they are deterred at an earlier stage, before they spend huge sums on a qualification that they will never have the chance to use?

Of course it is wrong for those from poorer backgrounds to have less of a chance at becoming a solicitor than their richer peers.

Access to the profession should be based on ability, not wealth.

But those who are determined enough, do still have the option of getting a law firm to sponsor their LPC – fierce as the competition might be. Certainly in the City firms, students are not expected to have paid for the LPC course themselves; the firm pays.

The firms also make a great play of encouraging applicants from a diverse range of candidates, although readers may have had a different experience.

So a very able candidate from a poorer background should still have a shot at getting into a City firm, without needing to borrow money to pay for the LPC.

But does the same apply for someone who wants to go into legal aid, or high street work?

This is the end of the market where trainees are more likely to have had to fund the LPC themselves.

Cash-strapped firms on tight margins will not be as generous in offering sponsored LPC places, particularly when there is a ready supply of graduates who have already completed the LPC, and are knocking down the door for a training contract.

But it is wrong for these firms to think they are not under a duty to offered sponsored LPC places with their traineeships.

If poorer LPC students can no longer get access to loans to fund the course, then law firms must step into the breach.

To expect students to fund the course themselves, when the risk of not getting a training contract is so high, is wholly unfair – and not a gamble that many of today’s (often risk averse) law firm partners would ever have contemplated taking themselves.