Membership pathways

 

Choosing the right pathway for you

There are two pathways into SFE membership - as a practising lawyer (professional pathway) or as a trainee lawyer (student pathway).

NB: If you have recently qualified and are new to older client law, we recommend that you join at the student member level and complete the SFE student programme, before upgrading to associate membership.

NB: Membership to SFE is purely for individuals. We don’t offer firm memberships.

Our expectations

We expect all our members to move through SFE’s membership levels to become SFE accredited. This is because we want to ensure all our members are able to advise clients to the very highest of standards before recommending them to the public. As such, we only showcase our accredited members to the public.


Joining SFE as a professional member - the accreditation pathway

  1. Complete your SFE application
  2. Pay your joining fee
  3. Take SFE’s Older Client Care in Practice (OCCP) Award with 8 weeks.
  4. This qualification focuses on the soft skills needed to work with older and vulnerable clients. The OCCP has its own set of resources to help you to prepare.
  5. Pay your SFE annual membership fee
     
    Complete SFE’s Older Client Law in Practice (OCLP) Award within 12 months of becoming an associate member
     
  6. This qualification focuses on your legal knowledge and technical knowhow.
  7. It has its own set of resources to help you prepare.
  8. Once you have at least 3 years PQE and are spending at least 50% of your time on older/vulnerable client matters, you are eligible to upgrade your membership to SFE’s highest level.

    9. Congratulations! You are now an SFE Full Accredited Member - You will need to re-accredit every 5 years

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Joining SFE as a student member

You will need to complete the SFE student programme and once you are qualified, you will then start on the SFE accreditation pathway.

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