Solicitors with the right experience or qualifications may represent clients in the high courts - long the exclusive domain of barristers - by the end of this year.
A government assessment board set up to screen solicitors said yesterday that qualification standards would be gazetted in May, by which time it would start accepting such applications.
The first round of assessments is planned for autumn this year, and those who pass will receive certificates by the end of this calendar year.
'We just hope to get running as soon as possible,' said Russell Coleman SC, a member of the assessment board.
The plan to extend solicitors' advocacy rights to the high courts was unanimously approved in January 2010. The board was subsequently formed in July that year to set the standards for future applicants.
The legislation and rules announced yesterday are a year behind the original timetable. The plan was scheduled to be finalised six months after the board's formation, with the initial assessments slated for the middle of last year.