Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme
About the scheme
All firms that provide publicly funded criminal defence work must have a General Criminal Contract with the Legal Services Commission, and most have at least one duty solicitor.
Duty solicitors are called to police stations to advise and assist people who would otherwise have no legal representation.
Duty solicitors also provide advocacy services at magistrates' courts on a rota basis, assisting people who do not have their own legal representatives.
Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme membership enables solicitors to apply to their regional Criminal Defence Service manager for inclusion in one or more local duty solicitor schemes.
Persons held in a police station can ask to be represented by their own nominated solicitor, whose services may be publicly funded; this is known as own-client work and is not covered by the duty solicitor schemes. As of 1 November 2006, all solicitors who provide own-client services and are not on a duty solicitor scheme are required to hold the Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme Police Station Qualification.
Prerequisites for scheme membership
Solicitors must complete written and practical assessments at approved assessment organisations before they apply for Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme membership.
There are four assessments, which lead to two qualifications:
Magistrates Courts Qualification
- Portfolio
- Interview and advocacy assessment
- Can I be a courts duty solicitor if I only have the Magistrates Courts Qualification?
Police Station Qualification
- Portfolio
- Critical Incidents Test
- Do I need the Police Station Qualification?
- I'm a police station representative. Must I retake the tests?
All solicitors who attend on clients in a police station and claim payment from the Criminal Defence Service must hold the Police Station Qualification.
Successfully completing the Magistrates Courts Qualification and the Police Station Qualification entitles you to apply for Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme membership.
- What is Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme membership?
- How do I apply for Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme membership?
If you are already a member, consult information about maintaining membership (or re-accreditation).
Information for employed barristers
Only solicitors can become Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme members.
Barristers who are employed by solicitors' firms, and satisfactorily complete the assessments, can apply directly to the Legal Services Commission to be entered on duty rotas as duty lawyers.
Useful links
The Legal Services Commission is responsible for the development and administration in England and Wales of
The SRA operates a dedicated website for scheme members; the site offers members secure access to the Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme logo.
Assessment organisations
What is an assessment organisation?
Assessment organisations administer Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme assessments on the SRA's behalf. They also offer training to prepare solicitors for assessments.
The SRA has established a framework for the form and content of Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme assessments, and authorises and monitors the assessment organisations.
The SRA has authorised four organizations as Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme assessment organisations:
Before you select an assessment organisation, find out the answers to several questions.
- When are the assessments held?
- What are the deadlines for submitting portfolios?
- Where are the role-play assessments held?
- What assessment preparation options are on offer?
Continuing professional development
The SRA requires that all solicitors—including members of the Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme—undertake at least 16 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) activities per year.
Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme members also must comply with special requirements in regards to the content of their CPD activities, which must comprise—in each year of membership—a minimum of
- two hours on the law, practice and procedure in the police station,
- two hours on the law, practice and procedure in the magistrates court, and
- two hours of general criminal law updates.
Please note that the Legal Services Commission's General Criminal Contract effectively imposes CPD requirements on fee-earners at firms that conduct criminal defense work.
Membership
What is Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme membership?
The Legal Services Commission requires all Criminal Defence Service duty solicitors to be members of the Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme. You may apply for Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme membership only after you have attained both the Police Station Qualification and the Magistrates Courts Qualification.
How do I apply for Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme membership?
If you are interested in becoming a member, download and read the following:
- Professional accreditation schemes: Application criteria and guidance notes (PDF 80K)
- Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme: Assessment and accreditation procedures (PDF 84K)
Once you have successfully completed all four assessments, download, complete and submit an application form (PDF 21K) for Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme membership.
Magistrates Courts Qualification
You must satisfactorily complete two assessments:
Portfolio
The portfolio assessment comprises 25 case reports of your work at the magistrates' courts.
Twenty cases should be covered by short-note reports demonstrating the range of your experience.
Five cases should be explained in detailed reports, showing the quality of your work at court.
Assessment organisations provide details about the portfolio assessment, including
- time limits
- types of cases to include
- issues and types of hearing to cover
Interview and advocacy assessment
The interview and advocacy assessment is a two-part, live role play.
In Part 1, you interview an actor playing the part of a client at the magistrates' court who has no representation. You have to gain enough information to be able to represent your client in the next part of the test.
Part 2 is an advocacy test; you present applications before a mock magistrates-court hearing. You must make representations and/or submissions in respect of three cases. One of these will be the case of your client from Part 1. The other two cases will be supplied to you in written form after the interview; you will be given some time alone in which to prepare yourself before the advocacy stage.
Can I become a court duty solicitor if I only have the Magistrates Courts Qualification?
You cannot apply to become a magistrates' courts duty solicitor if you only hold the Magistrates Courts Qualification. Only when you have successfully completed both the Magistrates Courts Qualification and the Police Station Qualification can you apply for membership of the Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme and, then, become a duty solicitor.
Police Station Qualification
You must satisfactorily complete two assessments:
Do I need the Police Station Qualification?
If you wish to conduct publicly funded cases in the police station, you must apply for and be granted a Police Station Qualification certificate. If you have the Police Station Qualification certificate, you can take cases at the police station—as long as the duty solicitor has given initial advice to the client.
If you conduct own-client work and are not a duty solicitor, as of 1 November 2006, you are required to hold the Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme Police Station Qualification.
You do not need the Police Station Qualification to conduct privately funded criminal defence work.
If you intend to apply for a Police Station Qualification certificate, read the following guidance:
- Professional accreditation schemes: Application criteria and guidance notes (PDF 80K), and
- Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme: Assessment and accreditation procedures (PDF 84K).
Once you have satisfactorily completed the portfolio assessment and critical incidents test, you can complete and submit an application form (PDF 21K) for a Police Station Qualification certificate.
The Legal Services Commission will ask to see this certificate when they audit your firm.
Portfolio
The portfolio assessment comprises five case reports of your work at the police station. They should be detailed reports, demonstrating the quality of your work.
Assessment organisations provide details about the portfolio assessment, including
- time limits
- types of cases to include
- issues you need to cover
Critical incidents test
This is a live role-play examination, based on police station interview scenarios. You listen to an audio recording of such a scenario.
You can offer advice during set pauses in the recording. You can also choose to interrupt the "interview" to give advice.
Your responses are recorded and subsequently assessed.
I'm a police station representative. Must I retake the tests?
No. If you were an accredited police station representative before you were admitted, you do not need to complete this qualification.
You can register the Police Station Qualification with the SRA. You will be given a certificate proving your eligibility to conduct delegated duty solicitor cases and own-client cases.
You only need to complete the Magistrates Courts Qualification and, then, apply for membership of the Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme.
Re-accreditation
All solicitors on duty solicitor schemes between 1 January and 1 April 2001 were automatically awarded membership of the Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme, subject to eventual re-accreditation.
Solicitors who joined the Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme after 1 April 2001 completed the full accreditation process; they are required to re-accredit five years from the date on which they joined.
The SRA plans to introduce a re-accreditation system in 2008, and we will publish the decision and further information here in due course.