The objective was the establishment of a niche legal practice specialising in Criminal and Child Care Law. Since this modest beginning, the firm has become one of the fastest-growing legal practices in the North, with six branches across West Yorkshire (Wakefield, Bradford, Leeds, Halifax, Huddersfield and Dewsbury), employing specialist solicitors in eleven different specialist areas of law. The practice currently has six partners*, and employs around 200 staff, including around 70 associate solicitors. Switalskis became a Limited Liability Partnership in November 2008.
Switalskis is now the UK's second-largest provider of civil legal aid in terms of fee income, and specialises in publicly funded work in the following areas of law: Criminal Litigation, Family and Child Care Law, Mental Health Law, Housing Law, Community Care Law, Immigration and Asylum Law, Prison Law, Public Law and Welfare Benefits. The firm has Category 1 status in all these areas of work following internal audit of the firm’s procedures by the Legal Services Commission, the government body responsible for the funding and supervision of all publicly funded legal work.
In July 2009, our experience family law team won a contract to provide telephone advice on behalf of Community Legal Advice, the free, confidential advice service funded by legal aid.
In addition to this publicly funded work, Switalskis Solicitors has a growing practice providing services for privately paying clients. This area of the practice focuses on four main areas. Our family law team offers specialist family law services for private clients, including divorce and separation, and the related areas of ancillary relief and children matters. Our Criminal Law department also offers a range of services to private clients, and has brought together specialists in motoring and road traffic law, regulatory law and licencing law to provide a high quality and affordable service for individuals and businesses. Our Medical Negligence department offers a complete service to assist and represent people who have claims as a result of negligent or substandard medical treatment. We also provide a full range of services for private wealth and personal welfare management, including Probate & Administration of Estates, Wills, Powers of Attorney, Trusts and Court of Protection matters.
*We use the word 'partner' to refer to a member of the LLP, or an employee or consultant with equivalent standing and qualifications.