The Law Society has described the regulators* decision to take
on board its concerns about the effect that the Quality Assurance
for Advocates Scheme [QASA] would have on solicitor advocates as a
major step in the right direction.
The Society's concern was that the original proposal was
disproportionate and would mean that many competent solicitor
advocates would not be able to continue to provide the advocacy
services that were needed by their clients. Solicitor advocates
rarely do full trials but nevertheless provide important
representation for clients in other hearings.
The Society will now need to consider the detail of the proposal
when the consultation paper is issued however the proposals are a
positive step forward.
Law Society Chief Executive Desmond Hudson said, “We have
had the opportunity to consider further the statements from the
regulators about the proposals for the Quality Assurance for
Advocates Scheme [QASA] and have had some initial discussions with
the SRA. We support a proportionate scheme for assessing competence
in advocacy.”
“We are pleased that the regulators have taken on board
the Society's concerns about the effect that the scheme would have
on competent solicitor advocates. “
“We are also pleased that, at least for these advocates,
there will be no requirement for judicial assessment.
However, the Society reiterates its concerns that the requirement
for all trial advocates to have judicial assessments is
misconceived. Judges exist to judge on the facts of the case,
not the competence of the advocates in front of them and we are
concerned that, for the advocates, there will be a conflict between
their interests in receiving a good mark from a judge and their
clients' interests in being fearlessly represented - which
can involve behaving robustly if a judge makes an error. In
addition, there are unlikely to be sufficient trials for this to be
a practical way forward. We urge the regulators to take the
opportunity to re-think this.
“We are disturbed that there appears to be a discrepancy
between the information that appears on the BSB's website and the
understanding of the SRA of the agreement. In particular, we
understand that non-trial advocates will be accredited for the full
five year period rather than the two years which the BSB's
announcement appears to imply and that there will be no separate
category of “non trial advocate” since all advocates
will be eligible to undertake level 2 work and will need to gain
judicial assessment if they undertake full trials. We believe
that it is important that all of this should be clarified publicly
at the earliest possible stage. We will study the consultation
closely and liaise closely with the SRA.”
Ends
Notes to editors:
*The QASA regulators are: Solicitors Regulation Authority, Bar
Standards Board and ILEX Professional Standards,
The Law Society is the independent professional body,
established for solicitors in 1825, that works globally to support
and represent its members, promoting the highest professional
standards and the rule of law.
Contact: Catherine Reed, The Law Society
+44 (0) 207 320 5902