Trainee solicitors in Scotland are set to be paid the national minimum wage of £6.08 an hour or more from June 2012, the Law Society of Scotland (LSS) has announced.

The announcement came the same day that the LSS agreed a proposed cut in council member numbers by one-quarter from 62 to 46. The LLS is to continue encouraging firms to pay the recommended rate of £15,965 and £19,107 for first and second-year trainees respectively, but has approved the paying of the minimum wage rather than allow trainees to work unpaid.

LSS director of education and training Liz Campbell said that the minimum wage would give trainees statutory employment rights. ‘The Society obtained a legal opinion on the issue as a small but steadily growing number of people had approached us and the Scottish Young Lawyers Association asking whether they could undertake their traineeship unpaid,’ she said.

An LSS spokeswoman added: ‘Trainees do valuable work for their firms and merit payment. And finding a second job to fund their traineeship would reduce their efficiency.’

The constitutional amendments for a council pared down to 46 will now go forward to the LSS annual general meeting in Perth in May. If approved, the council will still be mostly made up of solicitors elected from geographical constituencies, with seven members to cover sectors or unrepresented groups.

LSS vice-president Bruce Beveridge said: ‘There is a broad consensus that at 62 members, council is simply too large and needs to be reduced in size.’