SRA Character and Suitability- CCJ

[thesubway2024]

Hi everyone.

I am a recent graduate in the process of researching firms and hoping to secure a vac scheme soon, after which I am hoping to secure a TC. However, I am scared and disheartened about my circumstances and whether all my hard work will be for nothing.

I have a CCJ for unpaid rent for my university accommodation from 2021. This all went on during covid-19 and I was unaware how much the issue was escalating until I one day found a CCJ on a credit assessment. I have been repaying it slowly since but I still have a long way to go (somewhere around £4k due to the extra legal fees and charges I have incurred). No one knew about this at the time - I did not tell anyone until last year. The reason why this happened was because my father was meant to pay for the accommodation but we had a falling out and I was unable to pay it myself. I have a number of mental health issues as well as at the time undiagnosed neurodivergence that prevented me from dealing with this appropriately. I was also 19 when this first happened and had just moved to the country less than a year prior - I was scared and did not know what to do.

I am concerned the SRA will never even consider admitting me as a solicitor. Should I do the early character and suitability assessment to know for sure whether my dreams can never be achieved?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi everyone.

I am a recent graduate in the process of researching firms and hoping to secure a vac scheme soon, after which I am hoping to secure a TC. However, I am scared and disheartened about my circumstances and whether all my hard work will be for nothing.

I have a CCJ for unpaid rent for my university accommodation from 2021. This all went on during covid-19 and I was unaware how much the issue was escalating until I one day found a CCJ on a credit assessment. I have been repaying it slowly since but I still have a long way to go (somewhere around £4k due to the extra legal fees and charges I have incurred). No one knew about this at the time - I did not tell anyone until last year. The reason why this happened was because my father was meant to pay for the accommodation but we had a falling out and I was unable to pay it myself. I have a number of mental health issues as well as at the time undiagnosed neurodivergence that prevented me from dealing with this appropriately. I was also 19 when this first happened and had just moved to the country less than a year prior - I was scared and did not know what to do.

I am concerned the SRA will never even consider admitting me as a solicitor. Should I do the early character and suitability assessment to know for sure whether my dreams can never be achieved?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

I would recommend an early assessment just to be sure of this.

I have seen enough people be allowed to be admitted for "worse" offences though and I am fairly confident there will be practising solicitors who have had CCJ's before but have been able to show they are of an appropriate character through showing their circumstances were any of the following: 1) an anomoly; 2) something unlikely to happen again; 3) due to mitigating circumstances.

I can't say that the SRA will definitely allow you to practice - this will depend heavily on the details of this specific situation and also the evidence of your character you will need to submit to support the case that you should be allowed to continue with your legal career. But at the same time, I don't think this is an absolute blocker. However, only the SRA can really confirm this. There are some lawyers out there who advise on SRA regulatory matters who maybe able to give you a clearer indictation of your chances, although they will obviously come at a cost.