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Solicitor membership: common questions
For solicitors and law firms who act for survivors of abuse: who can join, what a member gets, what membership is not, and how joining and leaving work. Solicitor membership is not open yet.
For solicitors and law firms who act for survivors of abuse: who can join, what a member gets, what membership is not, and how joining and leaving work. Solicitor membership is open.
If you are looking for support yourself, please go to our Support Directory.
Who it is for
Who can join?
Solicitor membership is for solicitors and firms who act for survivors of abuse in claims for compensation. It is for any regulated firm that does this work.
Do we have to be a specialist firm?
No. Membership is for any regulated firm that does abuse claim work. Every application is checked by hand before a firm is listed.
Who else can be a member?
There are four kinds of membership: solicitors and law firms, medical experts, training providers, and therapists and support professionals.
None of them is open yet.
Solicitor membership is open. The other three are not open yet.
Support organisations, such as charities and helplines, don’t need membership. They are listed in our Support Directory free of charge.
We also act for defendants. Can we join?
Yes. A firm that acts for survivors of abuse will be able to join, and be listed, even if it also acts for defendants in other cases. Solicitor membership is not open yet.
Yes. A firm that acts for survivors of abuse can join, and be listed, even if it also acts for defendants in other cases.
What you get
What does a member get?
Solicitor membership is being designed. It is planned to include:
- a listing in our Legal Directory that shows your firm’s own contact details, so people contact you directly;
- a firm portal, where you keep your listing up to date;
- our training: webinars, and recordings you can watch later;
- “Verified” on your listing, once we have checked and accepted your firm;
- our newsletter for professionals.
A listing in our Legal Directory and a firm portal.
- Your listing card shows your firm’s own website, phone number and email address. People contact you directly.
- In the portal, you keep your listing up to date, submit articles for review, raise support tickets, and see delayed, aggregate figures on how often your card was seen and its contact links used. The figures are not a count of enquiries.
Our training and a newsletter for professionals are planned. They are still being designed.
Where will our firm appear?
In our Legal Directory. It will list firms in alphabetical order, and there will be no paid ranking. Each card will show the firm’s own website, phone number and email address; there will be no separate profile page. Every listed firm will show as “Verified firm”, because we check every firm by hand before it is listed.
In our Legal Directory. It shows only firms that we have checked and approved, in alphabetical order, and there is no paid ranking. Each card shows the firm’s own website, phone number and email address; there is no separate profile page. Each card says “Verified firm”, because we check every firm by hand before it is listed.
Can we publish our own articles on the site?
Yes. Once solicitor membership opens, members will be able to submit articles through their firm portal. We will review each article before it is published. Who is named as the author is still being decided.
Yes. You can submit articles through your firm portal. We review each article before it is published. Who is named as the author is still being decided.
What membership is not
Will membership bring us cases?
No. Membership is not a promise of work. We don’t promise any member referrals, enquiries or cases. Survivors choose who to contact, and they contact firms directly.
The figures in your portal show how often your card was seen and its contact links used. They are delayed and combined. They never identify any visitor, and they are not a count of enquiries.
Are we paying for cases?
No. Firms never pay us for cases.
Does membership say our work is good?
No. It is not a quality rating. We don’t vouch for any member’s work. “Verified” means only that we checked your firm by hand and accepted it.
Will we get survivors’ details?
No. Membership is not a route to survivors’ details. We never ask for a survivor’s story, and we hold nothing about any survivor to pass on.
Joining and leaving
Can we join today?
Not yet. Solicitor membership is not open, so nobody can apply today. You can see how applying will work.
Yes. Solicitors and law firms can apply now: apply to join the Legal Directory. If your firm is already listed, sign in to your firm portal.
How does joining work?
When membership opens, you will apply online, and we will check every application by hand. Once we approve it, you will set up your firm’s account and complete your listing, and we will review the listing before it goes live. Our questions about applying cover each step.
You apply online, and we check every application by hand. Once we approve it, you set up your firm’s account and complete your listing, and we review the listing before it goes live. Our questions about applying cover each step.
What happens at the yearly check?
We plan to check each member again every year. If a member no longer meets our checks, we will tell them and give them a short time to put it right. If they don’t, the listing comes down until they do.
Each year, you confirm that your listing is still accurate. If a firm no longer meets our checks, we tell it and give it a short time to put things right. If it doesn’t, we hide or suspend the listing until it does.
How do we leave, and can we come back?
Once solicitor membership opens, a firm will be able to withdraw, which will remove its listing at once. A firm that has withdrawn will not be able to rejoin by itself: it can return only after we have checked it again and restored it.
You can withdraw your firm, which removes your listing at once. A firm that has withdrawn cannot rejoin by itself: it can return only after we have checked it again and restored it.
More questions
- Common questions for solicitors
- Applying to join: common questions
- Your listing: common questions
- Membership
- Legal Directory
- Legal Directory
- About us
Next: what to have ready, and what happens after you apply.
Act for survivors of abuse? Solicitors and law firms can apply now.
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