Continuing Competance

Mark Solon, Managing Director & Solicitor, Wilmington Plc, United Kingdom

The need to undertake mandatory continuing professional development (CPD) has prompted groans across the profession for over a quarter of a century, with solicitors scrabbling at the last minute to sign up to any courses they can find in order to complete the requisite 16 hours before the end of the CPD year. But that is soon to be a thing of the past. A new ‘continuing competence’ regime will be implemented for all solicitors from November 2016. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) announced the change last May following a consultation and some early adopters have already been using the new approach since the spring. The change however, appears to have gone un-noticed by some in the profession. A small snapshot survey carried out in July by training providers Law CPD Solutions showed that only 35% of the 42 respondents had looked at the details of the new regime and 30% had not looked at it at all. But what is all the fuss about and what does the new regime mean for firms?

Mark Solon is the Managing Director of the Legal Division of Wilmington Plc. Mark Solon is acknowledged as one of the UK’s leading experts on expert witnesses, investigatory practice, witness familiarisation and continuing professional development. He is

Wilmington turns over around £90m pa and Mark’s Legal Division includes Central Law Training in England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Division publishes several legal magazines including Solicitors Journal, Managing Partner, Private Client Advisor