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ACCA Legal Service
ACCA has teamed up with iQ Business to provide a unique Legal Advice Service for members. The service provides cost effective telephone legal advice on all business issues including employment, health and safety, company law, property, disagreements and personal issues. There are no time based charges - just a one-off annual fee of £69 + VAT. For further information, please visit the ACCA Legal Service website.
Licensed Access
The Bar Council (England/Wales) has approved a scheme of direct professional access - Licensed Access (previous known as BarDIRECT) - for ACCA practitioners and the Faculty of Advocates (Scotland) has designated ACCA as a recognised professional body for this purpose. ACCA practitioners may instruct Counsel directly, without the use of a solicitor. This can result in cheaper and speedier advice or representation, and clearer understanding between the advised and the adviser. Practitioners may not, however, have direct access to a barrister/advocate in a personal, as opposed to a professional, capacity.
Practitioners should contact a barrister's or advocate's clerk to check the availability of the barrister/advocate, obtain a fee quotation and instructions as to the information which should be forwarded to the barrister/advocate. The most common means of selecting a barrister/advocate is to seek recommendations from professional colleagues or solicitors. A listing is also available on the Bar Council website or on the Faculty of Advocates (Scotland) website.
Licensed Access has now additionally granted members of ACCA a licence to instruct barristers to act on appeals to the High Court and above when they have acted for the client before the Special or General Commissioners or before the VAT and Duties Tribunal. For more information contact The General Council of the Bar on 020 7242 0082.
REVENUE BAR ASSOCIATION/TAX COUNSEL ADVISORY SERVICE - ENGLAND & WALES
ACCA practitioners may instruct members of the Revenue Bar Association (England/Wales) to represent clients in straightforward cases at General Commissioners' or Special Commissioners' hearings and VAT tribunals at reduced fees. The scheme will not be suitable where the case is likely to be of long duration or where there is a substantial amount of tax at stake. The standard fee for scheme cases is £950 + VAT. A list of participating chambers can be found under the Special Advocacy Scheme section of the Revenue Bar Association website.
ACCA members are also able to consult Tax Counsel directly on tax matters for a fixed fee. The scheme is designed to cover two kinds of situation:
- discussion of relatively short points which can be explained over the telephone without providing the barrister with any papers
- where an indication is sought as to whether the point at issue in a more complex case justifies detailed consideration.
A list of participating barristers can be found under the Joint Advisory Scheme section of the Revenue Bar Association website.
iQ LEGAL MANAGER
Extensive research and years of development have been committed to producing iQ Business Manager, a range of practical and effective methods of dealing with the myriad of management challenges facing SMEs everyday. The range includes iQ Legal Manager - a cost-effective way to administrate law in your organisation. It covers all aspects of operational law confronting businesses today. Their 41 lawyers and four barristers are all commercially experienced and there are no time charges. Access is unlimited and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
ACCA practitioners have exclusive and privileged access to iQ Legal Manager, firstly, to benefit their own businesses, and secondly, to resell onto their own customers - in both cases, at very competitive prices. For further information, please call iQ's helpline on 01937 587 877, email info@iq-business.co.uk or visit the iQ Business website.