By LSJ Staff -
The most effective way to determine if your lawyer is legitimate and lawfully qualified to practise law in NSW is to search their registration with the Law Society of NSW.
The Law Society of NSW is responsible for co-regulating the legal profession in New South Wales and maintains a public register of all solicitors in the state.
The NSW Solicitors Register lists all solicitors who are legally entitled to practise law in NSW. The register is accessible to anyone who wants to verify the credentials of their lawyer or to check if their lawyer is a member of the Law Society of NSW.
To find a lawyer on the Solicitors’ Register, visit the website of the Law Society of NSW and click on “Find a Lawyer”. After this, you can search for the lawyer using their name, firm, or location. The Solicitors’ Register allows you to search for lawyers based on their areas of practice which can be helpful if you require a lawyer with particular expertise in an area.
Once you have found a lawyer on the Solicitors’ Register, you can verify their qualifications by checking their profile. The profile will include information about the lawyer’s admission date, education and areas of practice.
The Office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner (OLSC), which co-regulates the NSW legal profession along with the Law Society of NSW, maintains a Register of Disciplinary Action (Disciplinary Register) in relation to all solicitors in NSW. The Disciplinary Register contains up-to-date information about any disciplinary action taken against a solicitor, which can assist consumers in making an informed decision about whether to engage a particular lawyer.
To check a lawyer’s disciplinary record, visit the OLSC’s website, and click on the Register of Disciplinary Action which can be accessed here.
By consulting the NSW Solicitors’ Register and the Register of Disciplinary Action you can quickly and easily verify whether your lawyer is legitimate and legally entitled to practise law in NSW.
