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