The architects of a scheme to assure the quality of criminal advocates say it is back on track to start in April 2012.

The Joint Advocacy Group (JAG) said that the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates has been tweaked to ensure it ‘protects the public interest across a wide variety of criminal advocacy practices and does not have any unintended consequences’.

The scheme will be implemented in stages, circuit by circuit, from April with advocates able to apply for accreditation from that date. The JAG is still considering which circuit will be the first to adopt the scheme.

The Gazette understands that several months will elapse between the initial implementation and the extension of the scheme to the second circuit, to enable it to be evaluated and amended if necessary.

Consultation on the scheme, which was extended by a month to end on 7 November, will enable the JAG to consider the issues raised so far by stakeholders. The Gazette has been told that a ‘large number’ of responses have been received.

The JAG wants to gather more evidence on the way practitioners work, looking at the types of cases that different advocates do and the frequency with which they are involved in full trials, to prevent any unnecessary exclusion of certain patterns of practice.

The JAG represents the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Bar Standards Board and ILEX Professional Standards.