Members of the public can verify the information provided by the Smartcard - whether or not the solicitor presenting the card holds a valid Practicing Certificate, and whether or not the signature applied to a document is valid as well. This helps to reassure clients that the solicitor acting on their behalf is licensed and entitled to practice law.
To confirm a solicitor's practising status, please click on the icon below. If you have trouble using the tool, please check your web browser's compatibility view settings.
Scottish solicitor status check
To confirm the status of a Solicitor's digital signature, please follow this link. To use this 'certificate checking tool' you need to know the email address that is registered to the Solicitor's Smartcard. If the Solicitor sends you a PDF document with a digital signature, the email address will be part of the signature however, if you receive a Word document with a digital signature you will require to follow these steps:
- Double-click on the signature
- Click on View
- Click on the Details tab and scroll down to the Subject field
- When you click on Subject, the information contained in the digital certificate will display in the lower half of the window - this includes the email address (which can be copied and pasted into the certificate checker)
