Sole practitioners
There are more than 600 sole practitioners on the roll and each
has their own place in the profession. These pages are the gateway
to a variety of sources of information, assistance and
communication by, from, among and for sole practitioners.
Setting up as a sole practitioner?
A summary of the basic information you will need to consider
before starting out on your own, along with details of helpful
contacts at the Society can be accessed by clicking the
related file.
Current projects and initiatives
Joint networking group meeting 7 June 2012
All sole practitioners are welcome to attend a meeting at the
Society on 7 June 2012 from 5.30pm. The meeting will be
hosted by Bruce Beveridge, who by that date will be newly in post
as Vice President of the Society. The evening will start with
a presentation by and discussion with Tim Mussan of Computer Law
Training Ltd about current Data Protection issues which
will be appropriately verified for CPD purposes.
The evening will continue after the talk with a drinks
reception which will be a great opportunity to meet and get to
know fellow sole practitioners, from across the country, to share
experiences and contacts.
In advance of the meeting we are preparing a schedule of the
categories of work handled by all attendees, which will be
circulated in advance, to facilitate networking.
If you are interested in attending please contact Laura
Malcolm for more details and to provide information as to
the categories of work you
undertake.
Register of Areas of Practice and Languages spoken
In order to assist the sharing of information about
individual sole practitioners' areas of practice, the Society
iscollecting information from sole practitioners, regarding
accredited specialisms, areas of practice and languages
spoken, Once the information is collated it will be shared
among the Sole Practitioner groups. The benefit of this will be to
obtain details not presently available from "Find a Solicitor".
When there is a need to refer work due to a conflict or holiday
absence some practitioners feel there is a higher chance
of a similar approach and quality of service being provided by
another member of a Sole Practitioner network, and a higher
chance of being able to get to know them personally. Locums and
Buddy relationships may also develop from these links.
The template form is available to view and download by clicking
the related file. If interested in participating, please complete
and email the form back to professionalsupport@lawscot.org.uk
Locum working
The Society's Locum Register has been re-established. Full
information on its operation is available from the
support in the downturn page.
The Society's locum register operates in parallel with lawscotjobs. It is free to register your
availability as a candidate with lawscotjobs.
A special package has been negotiated for sole
practitioners seeking to recruit emergency locm cover from
lawscotjobs. Please email professionalsupport@lawscot.org.uk
to obtain the code to quote when phoning lawscotjobs on 0131 561
0020 to access this package.
Networking
The Society has re-setablished networking groups of sole
practitioners, in different areas of the country. The first
meetings were held in the autumn 2010 in Perth and Edinburgh
and further autonomous meetings now continue to be held in
locations throughout the country. Presently the Glasgow, Edinburgh
and Fife groups are the most active. Practitioners who are
interested in setting up a local group outwith those
areas should contact Laura
Malcolm to confirm whether a group is already available in
your area and the date of the next meeting.
Copies of notes of the meetings, taken by each
group, are also available from Laura
Malcolm where these have been taken/shared.
A
private discussion forum, available to all sole practitioners
but not the general public, is available as a sub group of the Law
Society's LinkedIn Group. Please join up!
Future meetings of the face to face networking groups are
constantly being organised and if you are interested to attend but
have not received any invitation to date, please contact Laura Malcolm at the
Society for further details.
Trainees
The Society is keen to support creative solutions regarding
traineeships and this would include the sharing of a trainee
between firms or organisations as well as part-time working
arrangements. If you would like to discuss any aspect of
traineeships, including the benefits of taking on a trainee, please
contact Katie Wood,
manager, Registrar's Department, on 0131 476 8162.
Virtual practice support
Discover why several solicitors prefer working largely online
and without dedicated office space. What are the pros and cons?
Check out the experiences of several colleagues in this Journal article
Alternative business structures
Please visit the Regulation pages for more details.
Client Care advice and support can be obtained
from the Society. Further information and contact details are
available in the client care section.
Other useful information
For details on accounts, see our financial compliance section of
the website.
For details of events and online CPD, see our events
section.
See our standards booklet for Scottish solicitors
for guidance on risk management.
Help in dealing with stress is available at LawCare, a support
and advisory service for solicitors, their staff and families.
Visit the website of LawCare.
If you have any comments, please contact Laura Malcolm in the
representation and professional support team.