Solicitor advocates service

The Law Society launched a service for solicitor advocates this week. It will provide mentoring, training and networking opportunities on a circuit and national level, and create the framework to provide the level of support delivered to barristers by their Inns of Court.

Its initial focus will be on criminal solicitor advocates but it will cater for advocates at the magistrates’ and county court levels and for civil, family and children advocates in due course.

Law Society President John Wotton said: “Solicitor advocates are confronting significant challenges at present, notably reduced public funding for advocacy work and the prospect of a quality assurance scheme being imposed upon advocates.”