introduction
1. The Admissions and Licensing Committee (ALC) was set up in January 2011. The ALC was set up under a new composition to comply with changes introduced by the Legal Services Act 2007. This report covers the work of the ALC during the period 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2013.
2. The Committee comprises 2 professional members and 4 lay members. One of the lay members also serves as the Chair of the Committee.
3. The ALC was supported in its work relating to the Advocacy scheme and Associate Prosecutors, by two external advisers. The external advisers are experienced in civil, criminal and family proceedings. They are responsible for marking candidate portfolios, vetting course provider applications, inspection of courses and maintenance of standards.
They may attend
meetings of the Committee, although they do not participate in decision making.
4. The Committee found the advice and input of the external advisers useful in its decision making. It was able to place reliance upon their expert views on the suitability and competence of candidates and course providers.
5. External Advisers may be reappointed to their position and may serve a maximum of 3 consecutive 3 year terms. The External Advisers were reappointed for their final term of 3 years in July 2012.
Rights of Audience Scheme
7. The Committee is responsible for all of the aspects of the rights of audience qualification scheme. Its key areas of responsibility include approval of candidate applications to enrol onto advocacy skills courses, approval of applications to renew advocacy certificates and accreditation of course providers to deliver advocacy skills courses. The Committee was supported by the External Advisers in each of these areas.
Candidate applications
8. All Graduate Members and Fellows seeking rights of audience must undergo an enrolment process.
a certificate of eligibility. The application involves a detailed process. Candidates begin by completing a general application which asks for details of their litigation and advocacy experience. They also produce a portfolio of 8 cases that they have handled. 5 of these portfolio cases must cover litigation cases and three must cover advocacy cases.
The
portfolio cases are marked by an external adviser to ensure they meet the knowledge and experience guidelines. If they did, and also applicants had the examinations required for the scheme, the application was approved under the delegated procedure by an Officer of IPS. Applications that did not meet the knowledge and experience guidelines were referred to the ALC for consideration. The Committee is responsible for deciding
Advocacy certificate renewals
14. Chartered Legal Executive Advocates are required to renew certificates on 1 June or 1 December after the expiry of 12 months since the issue of their first certificate. Thereafter they move to 3 yearly renewals.
Professional standards for specialist lawyers 17 This is referred to as an application for
Area of Practice Civil
Criminal Family
whether or not to approve the application. If the Committee approves the application the candidate could proceed to enrol onto the advocacy skills course.
9. A total of 13 applications were received during 2013. Of those
applications, 9 were approved and applicants were granted certificates of eligibility to proceed onto courses. The remaining 4 applications are on-going.
10. The most popular areas of enrolment have been criminal proceedings and family proceedings. Of the 13 applications received during 2012, 7 were applications to enrol onto a criminal proceedings course, 5 were applications to enrol onto a family proceedings course and 1 was an application to enrol onto a civil proceedings course.
11. The Officer granted 5 certificates of eligibility to enrol onto criminal proceedings courses and 4 certificates of eligibility to enrol onto a family proceedings course under the delegated procedure. 16 candidates have successfully completed the advocacy skills course and are now Chartered Legal Executive Advocates. These figures included the 7 candidates awaiting a course from 2012.
12. Unfortunately the civil proceedings course has proved unpopular. This is
because it is less cost effective to the firm for Chartered Legal Executives to undertake civil advocacy than it is for Counsel to undertake the same work. There remain 2 candidates who have been granted a certificate of eligibility since the scheme commenced who have not yet qualified as Chartered Legal Executive Advocates. Logistical reasons are hindering the arrangement of a course for them.
13. A summary of the applications received and processed during 2013 appears below.
Applications Received
1 7 5
Approved -
5 4
On-going 1
2 1
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