Personal Injury Law Accreditation

Applicants should demonstrate a high level of knowledge and experience in the area of personal injury law in Scotland.  The application should include evidence the applicant has been engaged in a broad spectrum of work or practice in the personal injury field throughout the five year period under review.  Examples provided in the application should demonstrate expertise at a high level and should include:

• Experience of a significant number of matters from across the following categories

• matters of complexity with a number of difficult and novel issues

• matters involving significant skill, time and labour on the part of the applicant

• matters involving specialised knowledge on the part of the applicant

• matters involving unusual circumstances or where the subject matter is important to the client

• matters involving significant value

• matters where the applicant has taken particular steps with a view to avoiding a dispute, resolving a dispute, limiting the matters in dispute or limiting the scope of any hearing including mediation

• An understanding of the tests for personal injury including the legal criteria for liability where deviation from normal practice is alleged

• An understanding of the issues of causation and quantification of damages in personal injury claims

• An understanding of the practices and procedures of the Scottish Courts in dealing with personal injury claims including Commercial Actions in the Court of Session

• Participation in relevant Law Society of Scotland committees or other bodies or contribution towards consultation papers within the specialism.

When considering the strength of the application, the panel will consider the:-

• the role of the applicant in the work outlined - whether the applicant was the lead or a relatively junior member of a team; and

• the complexity of the work – whether the examples cited involve work that is relatively straightforward, or involved novel or untested points.

The panel will award more credit where the applicant has demonstrated a leading role in a range of complex or novel matters, rather than crediting simple volume of work and/or dealing with fairly straightforward matters.

All applicants should demonstrate the breadth of their work in the field in their application.  Examples of litigated work (whether in the Sheriff Court or in the Court of Session) and non-litigated work should be provided where available.

Applicants who have been engaged in the practice of personal injury law for the relevant five year period, whether for pursuer or defender, should be able to demonstrate a high level of working knowledge of the practical application of personal injury law by highlighting complex or novel cases they have been involved with.

Applicants should highlight any relevant qualifications gained, training received, and courses attended during the five year period. 

Personal injury law is constantly developing and credit will be given where applicants have been engaged in knowledge sharing for the benefit of their peers.  Applicants should therefore provide any available evidence of presenting seminars, teaching, responding to government consultation, and writing materials on personal injury law topics.