SPECIALIST SOLICITORS
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) operates a number of specialist accreditation schemes whereby legal practitioners can earn special recognition for their skills and expertise in specific areas of law. The SRA accreditation schemes promote high standards, ensure that consumers can identify relevant legal practitioners and help consumers to make informed choices about legal representation by specialist solicitors. UK lawyers can apply for membership of any SRA accreditation scheme however they must prove that they meet the eligibility criteria and prove their competence in order to subsequently describe themselves as specialist solicitors. Membership of an SRA accreditation scheme is voluntary and about 1 in 6 solicitors are members of at least one specialist panel with a total of over 18,000 members in one or more of the following fields :-
- Children panel
- Civil and commercial mediation
- Clinical negligence
- Criminal litigation
- Family law
- Family law advanced
- Family mediation
- Higher rights of audience
- Immigration and asylum
- Insolvency practitioners
- Mental Health Review Tribunal
- Personal injury
- Planning law
- Police station representatives
In addition to the Solicitors Regulation Authority accreditation scheme there are many other independent professional associations for specialist solicitors including some areas not covered by the SRA schemes. Where possible our solicitors are members of the relevant professional association and not only do they keep up to date with their topic through cooperation within relevant professional associations but they also attend educational courses for continuing professional development in accordance with the requirements of the Law Society.