Nigel Priestley, Senior partner at Ridley and Hall has been granted the award of the Higher Courts Qualification in Civil cases. He is now entitled to be called Solicitor-Advocate (Higher Courts Civil) by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Commenting he said “This is a great honour. What it means in practice is that now I have rights of audience in all civil proceedings in the higher courts like the High Court. “Rights of audience” simply means that I can go to court and appear before most judges in the country. As a firm we specialise in challenging local authorities about the decisions that they make – or fail to make! I can now represent clients in Judicial Review proceedings in Leeds, Manchester or London if that is in the best interests of my client.”