Solicitors affiliation policy
In supplying a list of affiliated solicitors, UK
Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group intends to
provide its users with access to good quality legal
advice and assistance.
1. UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group (UKLGIG) as
an organisation does not provide immigration
advice. It signposts to solicitors’ firms
that are affiliated to the Group. UKLGIG refers
enquiries to this list of affiliated solicitors if
advice is required. In order to be listed on the
website, solicitors’ firms pay an annual
affiliation fee set from time to time by the
UKLGIG.
2. In order to be considered for affiliation,
solicitors’ firms must initially meet at
least one of the following criteria:
• The firm employs at least one member of the
Law Society Immigration Law Panel or one member who
has been accredited at Level 2 of the Immigration
and Asylum Accreditation Scheme,
• The firm, or an individual within the firm,
is listed in the latest or previous edition of the
Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession as a leader
in immigration law,
• The firm employs at least one person who is
an Immigration Law Practitioners Association course
trainer.
If a solicitors’ firm meets one of these
criteria, UKLGIG will decide whether or not to
invite them to affiliate. The Group reserves the
right to decide if a firm is invited to affiliate.
A firm is more likely to be accepted if it is
proposed by a firm already listed.
3. The Executive Committee shall choose a selection
of individual solicitors from the affiliated list
to attend the monthly general meetings and to
operate the weekly legal helpline. Any advice given
by the solicitors at the meetings or on the
helpline is given by the individual solicitor on
behalf of his or her firm on a pro-bono basis and
not on behalf of UKLGIG.
4. If any UKLGIG volunteer, employee or Executive
Committee member receives a written or verbal
complaint concerning an affiliated solicitor, the
complainant should be advised to put their
complaint in writing to the solicitor. If the
complaint is not resolved, the complainant should
be advised of their right to complain to the Office
for the Supervision of Solicitors and asked to send
UKLGIG a copy of the complaint made. UKLGIG will
send a copy of the complaint to the
solicitor.
5. If an affiliated solicitor becomes the subject
of a formal complaint to the Office for the
Supervision of Solicitors by a UKLGIG user, the
Group will forthwith withdraw the invitation to
answer the legal helpline and attend monthly
general meetings and remove that solicitor’s
firm from the website and the affiliated list
pending determination of the complaint (any such
decision to be ratified by the Executive Committee
at its next meeting).
If the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors
upholds the complaint, the Executive Committee will
terminate the affiliation of the solicitor’s
firm.
If the Office for the Supervision of Solicitors
dismisses the complaint, the Executive Committee
will discuss at its next meeting whether to invite
the solicitor to re-affiliate and, if applicable,
to attend the monthly general meetings and answer
the helpline.
The complainant should be advised of the action
taken by UKLGIG.
6. If UKLGIG becomes aware of an issue concerning
an affiliated solicitor or firm that has the
potential to reflect badly on the Group, e.g. poor
or incorrect advice, overcharging, unnecessary
work, homophobia or rudeness,UKLGIG will take
appropriate action. Such action will be at the
discretion of UKLGIG and could include raising the
matter verbally and/or in writing with the
individual or firm involved, withdrawal of the firm
from the website and/or any other action that the
Group considers appropriate depending on the nature
and severity of the issue. Such decisions will be
at the sole discretion of UKLGIG.
UKLGIG reserves the right to make judgements on the
quality of service provided by solicitors’
firms and where there is any doubt, the Group will
always act in the best interests of its users and
the reputation of the Group.
7. If UKLGIG removes a solicitor from the website,
it will refund to that solicitor a proportion of
their annual affiliation fee calculated on a pro
rata basis from when they were removed, e.g. if 5
full months of their affiliation is left to run,
they will be refunded 5/12ths of their annual
fee.
8. No affiliated solicitor will partake in any
decisions made by UKLGIG as part of this
policy.
Policy Agreed: 16th July 2002
Last Reviewed: 16th January 2007
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