Accreditation in personal injury law

Guidance notes for applicants for the newly announced accredited specialism in personal injury law

The Journal, February 2003, page 7

The Law Society of Scotland have announced a new specialisation of personal injury law. Applicants to become accredited as a personal injury specialist should take note of the following guidance notes.

GUIDANCE NOTES

1. The Council of the Law Society of Scotland’s system of accreditation of specialists by a suitably qualified assessment panel confers specialist status on solicitors who can demonstrate expertise gained from practising in the field of Personal Injury law and show substantial experience in that field.

2. Normally an applicant should have held a Practising Certificate for seven years and should be able to demonstrate substantial experience in the law of Personal Injury during each of the five years preceding the application.

3. ‘Substantial experience’ means a significant case load in either number of complexity or both and this area of work should normally represent at least 75% of total workload with a significant amount of complexity.

4. Applicants should normally be expected to demonstrate that they maintain their education in the specialist area by, for example, attendance at appropriate specialised courses or seminars either as a delegate or a contributor; or by authorship of specialist books or learned articles; subscribing to relevant law reports; and keeping abreast of developments in the field.

5. The application should be accompanied by the names of three referees (one not from the legal profession). It will be inappropriate to include partners, colleagues or clients for whom you have acted. If an advocate is your referee the Panel would expect the advocate to have considerable experience of Personal Injury cases.

6. If the application is successful, the applicant will be accredited as a specialist in the law of Personal Injury for a period of three years, and will be entitled to apply for renewal of the accreditation at the end of that period.

7. The fee for each application is £150. This fee is non-refundable.

8. The Panel will be advised of the details of any complaint which has been intimated to the Law Society of Scotland against the applicant or their firm as a result of their actings in the course of the last five years.

9. Applicants should be aware that the Council of the Law Society of Scotland may suspend the accreditation before the expiry of the three-year period. This may take place if circumstances come to the attention of the Council which would make this course of action appropriate.

10. Accreditation will normally only be awarded to solicitors who have worked principally in legal practice in Scotland during the five years preceding their application.