Monday 13 June 2011
Paralegal Vacancies from SSP Job Zone
To find out more please visit; www.specialistparalegals.co.uk/JobZone.
Latest on Regulation of Paralegals in Scotland
The deadline for Stage 2 applications to join the Law Society of Scotland Registered Paralegal Scheme is Monday, 15th August 2011. Stage 2 is a window of opportunity for those paralegals who feel they already meet the standards of the new scheme to apply for a waiver from the Full Route, which will become the only route to enter the scheme from 16th August 2011. Full details of how to submit a Stage 2 application can be found on the Law Society website; http://www.lawscot.org.uk/members/paralegals.
The five guide areas currently recognised by the Scheme are:
The five guide areas currently recognised by the Scheme are:
- Civil Litigation: Debt Recovery
- Criminal Litigation
- Domestic Conveyancing
- Liquor Licensing
- Wills & Executries
The following additional legal domains are also under consideration, with some expected to be rolled out in late June/early July:
- Civil Litigation: Industrial Disease
- Commercial Conveyancing
- Commercial Law
- Company Registrar/Company Secretarial
- Employment Law
- Family Law
- Housing
- Oil & Gas
- Remortgage
- Reparation Law (this may change to Personal Injury)
- Repossession Litigation
If you are a paralegal working in one of the above legal domains, believe that you meet the standard of the Registered Paralegal and would like to register in that domain when it comes into existence, please send an expression of interest to the Law Society at registeredparalegals@lawscot.org.uk.
Please include the following information in your email:Name
Firm
Legal Domain(s) you wish to register in
Once again, please remember that if you wish to apply for a waiver from the requirement to train for a year as a Trainee Registered Paralegal, you must do this by the 15th August 2011.
If you have any further queries regarding the application process then please do not hesitate to contact the Society of Specialist Paralegals on 0141 225 6700.
Tuesday 9 November 2010
UPDATE - Registered Paralegal Scheme
I am delighted to confirm that the Registered Paralegal Standing Committee has approved the first fifty-eight applications from SSP members seeking to join the Registered Paralegal Scheme. The Law Society has been contacting successful applicants in recent weeks with formal invitations to register as members of the Scheme. Congratulations to all of our successful candidates!
Further applications are still being considered and the Law Society will be in direct contact with any candidates for whom additional information is required in support of their applications.
Transition – Stage 1 is due to end on the 15th November 2010. If you have not already applied to join the Scheme and wish to do so under this Stage please contact us as soon as possible on 0141 225 6700 or via enquiries@specialistparalegals.co.uk.
SSP members wishing to be considered under Stage 1 must meet all of the following criteria:
Further applications are still being considered and the Law Society will be in direct contact with any candidates for whom additional information is required in support of their applications.
Transition – Stage 1 is due to end on the 15th November 2010. If you have not already applied to join the Scheme and wish to do so under this Stage please contact us as soon as possible on 0141 225 6700 or via enquiries@specialistparalegals.co.uk.
SSP members wishing to be considered under Stage 1 must meet all of the following criteria:
- You must have been a member of the Society of Specialist Paralegals for a period of at least two years.
- You must have completed the recommended ten hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in each of your last two membership years.
- You must hold a formally recognised and assessed qualification relevant to each Legal Domain you wish to register under (e.g. Domestic Conveyancing).
- You must have at least two years experience working in each Legal Domain you wish to register under.
- You must work under the supervision of a Scottish solicitor with a current Practising Certificate from the Law Society of Scotland.
- You must obtain a signed declaration from your supervising solicitor in support of your application.
- You must not have been the subject of any formal complaints relating to your employment as a paralegal.
Transition – Stage 2 will launch on the 16th November 2010 and will run until the 15th August 2011. Throughout this Stage candidates will apply directly to the Registered Paralegal Standing Committee rather than through a paralegal body such as the SSP. Stage 2 applicants should read the guidance from the Law Society of Scotland before completing and returning the Stage 2 application form to the Law Society no earlier than the 16th November 2010. Full details of the launch process and each individual stage can be found on our website; www.specialistparalegals.co.uk/Regulation.
Moira McFadyen
Managing Director
CLT (Scotland) Ltd
Society of Specialist Paralegals
Friday 3 September 2010
New Scottish Vacancies from Search Legal
Please visit our Job Zone for further information; www.specialistparalegals.co.uk/JobZone.
Tuesday 31 August 2010
New Vacancies Available to View in the SSP Job Zone
To find out more please visit; www.specialistparalegals.co.uk/JobZone.
Monday 9 August 2010
UPDATE - Registered Paralegal Scheme Joint Application
I am pleased to announce that our submission on standards to the Registered Paralegal Standing Committee has been provisionally accepted and the Committee is now focussed on evaluating the individual submissions made by our members to ensure quality and consistency.
Due to the volume of applications received, the Standing Committee has also extended the deadline for receipt of applications from SSP members. If you did not previously submit your details and wish to be included in the SSP’s joint application you now have until Thursday, 12th August 2010 to do so.
As a reminder, the key criteria associated with Transition – Stage 1 are summarised below:
Due to the volume of applications received, the Standing Committee has also extended the deadline for receipt of applications from SSP members. If you did not previously submit your details and wish to be included in the SSP’s joint application you now have until Thursday, 12th August 2010 to do so.
As a reminder, the key criteria associated with Transition – Stage 1 are summarised below:
- You must hold a qualification relevant to the Legal Domain(s) you wish to register in.
- You must obtain a signed statement from a supervising solicitor in support of your application which details your practice experience, confirms that you meet the basic competencies for all paralegals joining the scheme as well as those specific to the Legal Domain(s) you wish to register in and indicates that you have demonstrated a commitment to CPD and lifelong learning.
- If you do not work in a Legal Domain which is a ‘Guide Area’, you must submit a duly completed ‘prompt sheet’ in the area in which you work (full details available from the Law Society of Scotland; www.lawscot.org.uk/paralegals).
Please contact us by email (enquiries@specialistparalegals.co.uk) confirming which Legal Domain(s) you wish to register in and remember to include the supporting statement and any completed prompt sheets (if applicable).
I am also delighted to confirm that Gillian McGoldrick F.S.S.P. has been selected to represent our membership on the Registered Paralegal Standing Committee. Gillian works as a Legal Executive for Tods Murray LLP and has been a paralegal for five years. She brings a wealth of practical experience and a great deal of enthusiasm to her new role and is committed to working towards the successful launch of the Registered Paralegal Scheme as well as ensuring that the professional interests of the SSP and its members are well represented throughout the scheme’s implementation and beyond.
Full details of the launch process and each individual stage can be found on our website.
Moira McFadyen
Managing Director
CLT (Scotland) Ltd
Society of Specialist Paralegals
Tuesday 13 April 2010
Law Society of Scotland: Registered Paralegal Scheme Launch
Dear Member,
The launch date of the Law Society of Scotland Registered Paralegal Scheme has been confirmed as Monday, 16th August 2010. The scheme will launch in three stages and a summary of how these stages will apply to SSP members is outlined below:
TRANSITION – STAGE 1
16th August 2010 to 15th November 2010
The SSP intends to make a joint application to the Standing Committee on behalf of all Scottish Fellows who can provide the signature of a supervising solicitor holding a current practising certificate from the Law Society of Scotland and who wish to be included as part of the joint application. If you are eligible to apply under this stage of the transition arrangements then we will contact you shortly to request signatures and your permission to forward your details to the Law Society of Scotland as part of our joint application.
TRANSITION – STAGE 2
16th November 2010 to 15th August 2011
SSP members who have not yet been awarded Fellowship status but feel that they already meet the standards that the scheme seeks to establish may make an application to the Standing Committee under this stage. Applications submitted under Transition – Stage 2 will be considered on an individual basis.
FULL ROUTE
From 16th August 2011
SSP members who are not eligible to apply under Transition – Stage 1 or Transition – Stage 2 may apply to join the scheme under the Full Route. This will become the only route into the scheme once the transition stages outlined above have closed.
Further details about each stage can be found by visiting the Law Society of Scotland’s website; www.lawscot.org.uk/paralegals.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR FELLOWS
The Registered Paralegal Scheme will launch with guide areas in place outlining the role and duties of paralegals working in the following practice areas:
• Civil Litigation
• Criminal Litigation
• Debt Recovery
• Licensing
• Residential Conveyancing
• Wills, Trusts and Executries
So as not to delay the launch of the scheme, the Law Society of Scotland is asking for your help to devise legal domains in the area you work in. If you do not work in one of the areas above, are an SSP Fellow and wish to join the scheme under Transition – Stage 1 we need your assistance.
A legal domain ‘prompt sheet’, and corresponding ‘Additional Competencies’ for Executries were produced in The Registered Paralegal - Paper 2 in order to demonstrate how completion of the ‘prompt sheet’ by a paralegal working in a particular area will translate into the subject specific ‘Additional Competencies’ for that area.
Using the Executries Legal Domain as a guide we would ask that both you and your supervising solicitor complete the prompt sheet together and asses what you both consider should be included. This will be of particular importance to those Fellows with a Specialist Paralegal Qualification in any of the following areas:
• Commercial Conveyancing
• Company Law
• Employment Law
• Family Law
Copies of both The Registered Paralegal – Paper 2 and the prompt sheet can be downloaded directly from the Law Society of Scotland’s website: www.lawscot.org.uk/paralegals.
The SSP will be meeting with representatives of the Law Society of Scotland and its partners for this scheme on Saturday, 17th April 2010. It would be greatly appreciated if you could return any completed prompt sheets to us at enquiries@specialistparalegals.co.uk before this date.
If you have any further queries regarding the joint application then please do not hesitate to contact the Society of Specialist Paralegals on 0141 225 6700.
Yours sincerely,
Moira McFadyen
Managing Director
CLT (Scotland) Ltd
Society of Specialist Paralegals
The launch date of the Law Society of Scotland Registered Paralegal Scheme has been confirmed as Monday, 16th August 2010. The scheme will launch in three stages and a summary of how these stages will apply to SSP members is outlined below:
TRANSITION – STAGE 1
16th August 2010 to 15th November 2010
The SSP intends to make a joint application to the Standing Committee on behalf of all Scottish Fellows who can provide the signature of a supervising solicitor holding a current practising certificate from the Law Society of Scotland and who wish to be included as part of the joint application. If you are eligible to apply under this stage of the transition arrangements then we will contact you shortly to request signatures and your permission to forward your details to the Law Society of Scotland as part of our joint application.
TRANSITION – STAGE 2
16th November 2010 to 15th August 2011
SSP members who have not yet been awarded Fellowship status but feel that they already meet the standards that the scheme seeks to establish may make an application to the Standing Committee under this stage. Applications submitted under Transition – Stage 2 will be considered on an individual basis.
FULL ROUTE
From 16th August 2011
SSP members who are not eligible to apply under Transition – Stage 1 or Transition – Stage 2 may apply to join the scheme under the Full Route. This will become the only route into the scheme once the transition stages outlined above have closed.
Further details about each stage can be found by visiting the Law Society of Scotland’s website; www.lawscot.org.uk/paralegals.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR FELLOWS
The Registered Paralegal Scheme will launch with guide areas in place outlining the role and duties of paralegals working in the following practice areas:
• Civil Litigation
• Criminal Litigation
• Debt Recovery
• Licensing
• Residential Conveyancing
• Wills, Trusts and Executries
So as not to delay the launch of the scheme, the Law Society of Scotland is asking for your help to devise legal domains in the area you work in. If you do not work in one of the areas above, are an SSP Fellow and wish to join the scheme under Transition – Stage 1 we need your assistance.
A legal domain ‘prompt sheet’, and corresponding ‘Additional Competencies’ for Executries were produced in The Registered Paralegal - Paper 2 in order to demonstrate how completion of the ‘prompt sheet’ by a paralegal working in a particular area will translate into the subject specific ‘Additional Competencies’ for that area.
Using the Executries Legal Domain as a guide we would ask that both you and your supervising solicitor complete the prompt sheet together and asses what you both consider should be included. This will be of particular importance to those Fellows with a Specialist Paralegal Qualification in any of the following areas:
• Commercial Conveyancing
• Company Law
• Employment Law
• Family Law
Copies of both The Registered Paralegal – Paper 2 and the prompt sheet can be downloaded directly from the Law Society of Scotland’s website: www.lawscot.org.uk/paralegals.
The SSP will be meeting with representatives of the Law Society of Scotland and its partners for this scheme on Saturday, 17th April 2010. It would be greatly appreciated if you could return any completed prompt sheets to us at enquiries@specialistparalegals.co.uk before this date.
If you have any further queries regarding the joint application then please do not hesitate to contact the Society of Specialist Paralegals on 0141 225 6700.
Yours sincerely,
Moira McFadyen
Managing Director
CLT (Scotland) Ltd
Society of Specialist Paralegals
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