Law Society of Scotland
This information reflects the Society's web site at the date you downloaded or printed it and you should check at www.lawscot.org.uk to see if it is still current.

Registered Paralegals

NEWS UPDATE - The Draft Educational Competencies can be found in the right-hand column of this webpage. It should be noted that these are draft until further notice and that this is an excerpt of the Draft Scheme of Operation. This should be particularly useful to paralegals who are completing prompt sheets.

NEWS UPDATE -  The Society strongly recommends that all paralegals (or other interested parties) sign up to the Society's ''Communications Opt-in' for updates on the Registered Paralegal scheme. Even if you will get updates from your employing organisation OR paralegal association, the information in the Society updates may be important to you. Please email registeredparalegals@lawscot.org.uk with the title OPT-IN to join.

UPDATE: The Law Society of Scotland Registered Paralegal Scheme will launch on Monday, 16th August 2010.

Final decisions on the policies of the scheme and its operation will be taken by the Society's Board and Council over the course of April and May. Information will continue to be added to this page so that those who wish to join the scheme have all the information they need to do so.

Meantime, some initial questions you may have about the Registered Paralegal sheme, and the three stages of launch,  are answered below.

What is a registered paralegal?

Registered Paralegals will meet a new standard for paralegals. The standards have been consulted on and are currently being finalised by the Law Society of Scotland in association with its partner the Scottish Paralegal Association. Registered Paralegals will:
  • work in support of a practising Scottish solicitor in delivering legal advice to clients.
  • work according to  general competencies which apply to all Registered Paralegals irrespective of practice area, and competencies specific to their own area of practice.
  • ahere to a Code of Conduct aligned with Scottish solicitors' Code of Conduct.

There have been two major consultations on the development of the Society's Registered Paralegal scheme since 2008. Further background is contained in those consultations. Please ensure you familiarise yourself with those documents, and the content of these pages, if you are a paralegal, solicitor working with a paralegal, or a business employing a paralegal.

The Society is committed to this scheme which seeks to define and credit the role of the paralegal in Scotland  -  for paralegals, for solicitors, and crucially for the public who need to have faith in the knowledge and skills of the people dealing with their legal transactions.

The SPA, the Society's partner in this scheme, has firmly believed for many years that not only should the role of paralegal be promoted and that paralegals should gain the recognition they deserve, but that standards are an absolute necessity to the integrity of and respect for paralegals as an emerging profession.

I want to become a registered paralegal - when can I apply?

This will depend on your circumstances, and you are encouraged to liaise closely with:

  • your paralegal association, if you are a member of such an association
  • your supervising solicitor
  • your HR department or other representative of your employer

if you are considering making an application to the scheme.

Please also familiarise yourself with the stages of launch outlined below. It was suggested in the most recent consultation that the scheme will cost £100 per annum to join, and the cost will be confirmed shortly.

What are the stages of launch?

There are three stages of launch, which will target different groups. If you fall into the group being targeted by the stage, you can make your application to become a Registered Paralegal during this stage.

  • Transition - Stage 1 (16 August 2010 to 15 November 2010)
  • Transition - Stage 2 (16 November 2010 to 15 August 2011)
  • Full Route (from 16 August 2011)

Please ensure you are clear on the stages of launch, outlined below.

Transition – Stage 1 

This is an opportunity for existing members of paralegal associations, who already meet the standards which the Registered Paralegal Scheme seeks to set, to be 'grandfathered' into the scheme. 
 
The overriding principle is that Registered Paralegals will work in support of a practising Scottish solicitor in delivering legal advice to clients. In addition, detailed criteria was outlined in Paper 2 of the Registered Paralegal consultation, to allow SPA members to benefit from this 'grandfathering':
  • that they hold a formally recognised and assessed qualification relevant to their work as a paralegal (including, but not necessarily limited to, an HNC/HND in Legal Studies, a Strathclyde/CLT or Reward Training Qualification, or a degree with law in the awarding title from a Scottish University).
  • that they have more than two years work experience gained under the supervision of a Scottish solicitor holding a current Practising Certificate from the Law Society of Scotland.
  • that they have been registered with the Scottish Paralegal Association, at Grade 1 of the SPA grades scale, for a period of two years or more at the date of application.
  • hat they have not been subject of any complaints to the SPA for breaching the SPA Code of Conduct AND have met the CPD requirements in each year they have been registered.
SPA members who fit the criteria are being contacted by the SPA at the moment, as SPA will be making a block application to the Registered Paralegal Standing Committee, over the summer, so that those SPA members they identify can be transferred into the scheme under Transition - Stage 1.   Please note blank prompt sheets are also available from the right hand side of this page.
 
**If you meet the criteria and you and your supervising solicitor/employer would like to make a Stage 1 application, the deadline for intimating this to SPA, is Saturday, 17th April 2010 (the day of the annual conference at the Radisson in Glasgow). Please ensure you and your employer/supervising solicitor contact SPA if you wish to be part of Stage 1.**
 
Other organisations which represent paralegals, and impose what they believe to be equivalent criteria to that outlined above, are being invited to make an application to the Registered Paralegal Standing Committee, over the summer. This application will be assessed in terms of (i) whether the criteria is equivalent and, if the Standing Committee believes it is, (ii) for their nominated paralegals who meet that criteria to be transferred into the scheme under Transition – Stage 1.  
 
**The Society understands that an organisation which may make this application is SSP. Please contact either SSP if you are their member, and they will advise you on work they are doing to make an application to the Registered Paralegal Standing Committee.**
 
Transition – Stage 2
 
This stage was introduced in the second and recent consultation in order to recognise the experience of highly experienced paralegals who, although they do not meet the criteria specified for Transition – Stage 1, may already meet the standards which the scheme seeks to set.  Stage 2 applications will be considered on their individual merit when Stage 2 commences.
Some examples of Stage 2 applications were outlined in the recent consultation:
 
  • someone who has been trained to a very high standard, in-house, and subsequently worked as a paralegal for many years, but does not have the equivalent of what would be regarded as a ‘formally recognised and assessed qualification’. 
     
  • someone who is a member of a professional association, but fails to meet all of the criteria required for the transitional measures to apply as originally envisaged (for example ‘grade’ of membership), but they believe that they do still meet the standard of the ‘Registered Paralegal’.
  • someone who meets the all of the entry criteria stated, both the holding of a qualification and in-office experience, but because of having exercised their free choice not to join a paralegal association do not qualify for the transitional arrangements for members of paralegal associations.
**Sign-off by the paralegal's supervising solicitor/employer (and previous supervising solicitor/employer if there has not been continuous employment for the period of time used to support the application) is likely to be crucial to this kind of application.  Solicitors and employers will support the application by stating:
  • that they believe the Registered Paralegal standard has been met by the paralegal in question;
  • that the paralegal has committed to CPD and lifelong learning; and
  • that there have been no complaints against the paralegal.

Please note in particular that (i) the way in which experience will be measured and assessed, where a Stage 2 applicant does not have a qualification, and (ii) the way in which the Society will ensure a fair and consistent protocol for assessing Stage 2 applications, will be part of guidance issued to applicants by the Society prior to the commencement of Stage 2.**

Employers, supervising solicitors and paralegals will be encouraged to look carefully at the criteria and whether they will collectively be able to demonstrate the way in which the paralegal in question meets the criteria, before making an application.

**Transition - Stage 2 aims to recognise expertise amongst paralegals  who meet the new 'Registered Paralegal' standard during a 'window of opportunity'. It is not meant to be a substitute for an application under the third stage, the Full Route. The ‘Full Route’ will require all applicants to hold a ‘formally recognised and assessed qualification’, and train for a period of a year as a Trainee Registered Paralegal’ before qualifying as a Registered Paralegal.** 
 
The Society reserves the right to limit the number of applications it will progress in Transition - Stage 2 per month, although all applications received by 15 August 2011 will be considered.
The Society will issue more detailed guidance on Transition - Stage 2 applications in advance of the commencement of this stage,  hold a series of events to answer questions employers, solicitors and paralegals may have, and issue information on the application process itself in due course.
 
The Full Route
**It will be a pre-requisite for the scheme from the start of the Full Route that those commencing training as a Trainee Registered Paralegal hold a relevant qualification. As highlighted above, employers may therefore wish to consider whether it is appropriate to make a Stage 2 application, and that a Stage 2 application may not be successful. They may therefore wish to make inroads into which qualifications they may wish for their paralegals to undertake, so that their paralegals are positioned well to join the scheme through the Full Route**
 
This route will become the sole route into the scheme, and will open after Transition - Stage 1 and Transition - Stage 2 have closed:
  • those entering via the Full Route will be required to hold a ‘formally recognised and assessed qualification’.
  • those holding such a qualification would enter the scheme as a ‘Trainee Registered Paralegal’.
  • during a one year training period,  the paralegal and solicitor will work together so that by the end of the training period, both general competences and competencies specific to the legal area in which the paralegal is working, are achieved.
  • the Trainee Registered Paralegal will quality as a Registered Paralegal as a result.

As with any scheme, it will be possible for a potential applicant to apply for a waiver from one or more of the requirements for entry.However, applications which fall into the Stage 2 category should be made within Stage 2, which is why Stage 2 is of significant length.

The Full Route will not open until August 2011, therefore the Society is focussing on supporting Transition – Stage 1 and Transition – Stage 2 applicants. In due course, further guidance will be issued on the Full Route. 

Further guidance will be issued in due course, and posted here. 

To receive tailored communications and be first to receive updates, please send an email with 'REGISTERED PARALEGAL COMMUNICATIONS OPT IN' in the subject line to registeredparalegals@lawscot.org.uk

The Law Society of Scotland, working in partnership with:

 

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