By Jason Tozer -
Is it time for stricter guidelines on how solicitors describe themselves?
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” is a line from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and is often used to remind us how unimportant names can be. Call a rose something else and it still looks, smells and acts like a rose.
However, the same does not work in the reverse: calling something else a rose does not make it so. This principle is no more important than in the legal profession.
To call yourself a solicitor in NSW, you need to clear a number of hurdles: you must clear a tertiary qualification, a graduate diploma and admission by the Supreme Court.
To call yourself a specialist in an area of law or a principal of a law practice, there are further hurdles you must clear such as the Law Society’s Specialist Accreditation Program or completion of a Practice Management Course.
However, the same type of regulation on a solicitor calling themselves a “Senior Lawyer”, “Senior Solicitor”, “Senior Associate” or simply an “Associate” does not exist.
In addition to this, there is nothing preventing a solicitor from advertising themselves as having “considerable”, “extensive” or “significant” experience despite the fact that they may have been admitted for just a short time.
