SRA listens to feedback on higher rights issues
8 September 2008
At a meeting last Thursday, (4 September) in Birmingham, the Solicitors Regulation Authority Board decided to introduce a streamlined mandatory accreditation system for solicitors who practise as advocates in the higher courts.
The new scheme will be more streamlined and accessible to practitioners than the current scheme. It will involve an initial assessment, supported by targeted continuing professional development.
The SRA had originally proposed that the new system should be voluntary. Some stakeholders argued strongly that the accreditation should remain compulsory, while others considered that a mandatory scheme was an unnecessary restriction. Having considered the wide range of views the Board decided to retain the mandatory nature of the existing scheme for the time being.
Dr Jonathan Spencer, chair of the SRA's Education and Training Committee, said: "We need to review our training policies regularly and we responded to concerns that the current system to accredit solicitors to practise in the higher courts was unnecessarily complicated.
"In the light of the substantial feedback from the profession, the judiciary and other stakeholders, we have finalised a scheme which removes unnecessary barriers while maintaining high standards of advocacy. We hope that this will command wide support. We will be working with the Ministry of Justice to implement a simplified route to accreditation and will undertake a further review in about three years' time."
Alongside the development of the new Higher Rights of Audience qualification, the SRA is working together with the Bar Standards Board, the Legal Services Commission and others on the Quality Assurance for Advocates' Initiative to ensure a consistent approach to the assurance of competence of all advocates undertaking legal aid work.
Information about the timescales and scope of the higher rights scheme, including the issue of re-accreditation, will be announced in due course.
Background information
Seven hundred and fifty solicitors applied in 2007 to take one of three accreditation routes to qualify for higher rights of audience.