A Cumbrian lawyer has been awarded a quality standard to support people seeking help on health and welfare matters.
Specialist lawyer with EMG Solicitors Sarah-Lyn Strong is now an accredited legal representative of the Court of Protection.
She already advocated for people who have lost mental capacity and cannot speak up for themselves and the additional accreditation marks her out as a representative working to a recognised quality standard.
Sarah-Lyn’s expertise in the health and welfare aspects of the Court of Protection and community care means she often represents people who are in the nursing or residential care system to ensure their wishes and needs are met.
She explained: “Solicitors with at least three years’ experience can apply for Mental Capacity (Welfare) Accreditation. I had been doing welfare work for almost 10 years, but it was for a local authority before 2021. Now, working in private practice, I also have specific case work acting on behalf of incapacitated adult clients.”
Sarah-Lyn, who is from Dalston and is based at EMG Solicitors’ office in Duke Street, Penrith, had to submit a portfolio of training and case work then complete a two-day Law Society course and an assessment interview.
The accreditation means that she can be appointed directly by the Court of Protection to appropriate cases rather than having to rely on ‘litigation friends’ acting as middlemen.
“I am able to advocate for more clients and it offers that extra reassurance of a high standard of practise to family members of our clients,” Sarah-Lyn said.
Sarah-Lyn is a health and welfare specialist and member of the Court of Protection team at EMG Solicitors, which has a total number of 60 staff.
Sarah-Lyn said: “It’s not very well understood by the public, but the Court of Protection ensures people are safeguarded under legislation. A person who has been deprived of their liberty may have lost capacity to make decisions, but they still have rights.
“We can apply for changes to be made to a care package to move someone somewhere else or alter arrangements to allow them to get out into the community for a walk or to the shop if that is what they want. No two cases are the same.”
Sarah-Lyn has recently been joined in Penrith by solicitor Hayley Miller, strengthening further the Court of Protection Health and Welfare team in Cumbria. Hayley qualified in 2021, previously working at a firm in the North East before relocating to Cumbria with her family.
Hayley said: “My move to EMG Solicitors was encouraged by a wish to relocate to Cumbria with my family, but also to join a firm that is supportive and pioneering. I’m pleased to have been welcomed into a team of colleagues who are experts in the field and strive to offer the best possible service to their clients and the wider community.
“It is really special to be involved in the firm’s growth into the North West and specifically having a presence in Cumbria, where we can continue offering a high standard of service to clients in areas of law that are quite often complex and misunderstood. I am also an accredited member of the Law Society’s Mental Health Accreditation scheme so we can offer specialised mental health services from our Penrith office across the region.”
