Happy birthday to us! The SWW has turned 24.
In April 1994 the Society of Will Writers was formed to provide support to members and protection to clients of SWW members. 24 years later we are still here, still providing support to members and still protecting our member’s clients – just on a far bigger scale.
The secret to our success is that as an organisation we are incredibly open, transparent and we engage. We aren’t playing at this and we take our responsibility very seriously. In 24 years we have grown to become the largest self-regulatory body governing the profession of Will Writing and have in excess of 1700 members working under the banner of the SWW.
This means that 1700 professionals all adhere to the required standards of the Society of Will Writers and understand what it means to be a member of the SWW. We aren’t afraid to audit members, we take professional standards very seriously and actively engage with government bodies like the Legal Services Board, Competition and Markets Authority and the Law Commission.
In 24 years we’ve had ups and downs. In 2013 we were geared up for statutory regulation only for the then Lord Chancellor, Chris Grayling to call for stronger self-regulation. At that point some of our more senior members had taken the decision to retire to avoid the rigors of any new statutory obligations. Since then, we’ve galloped down the road to success and have expanded the SWW membership as well as opening a dedicated training facility for Will Writers, the College of Will Writing since which has provided training to over 2000 professionals.
We sometimes feel that SWW members don’t get the credit they deserve. We are often shunned by press organisations or charities who favour solicitors despite research suggesting that Wills produced by solicitors were no better or worse than those of professional will writers. Despite minor hurdles, our work over the last 24 years has put us in an incredibly strong position. The next three years will see the SWW realising our growth strategy which includes efforts to better educate both SWW members and the general public.
We encourage all stakeholders or interested parties to work or partner with us towards bettering the profession.
Contact us on [email protected] or call 01522 68 78 88
