Solicitors working on cases involving forced marriage and honour-based violence are to be offered specialist training and accreditation.

Cris McCurley, a partner at Ben Hoare Bell solicitors in Newcastle and charity Karma Nirvana have been working with family law organisation Resolution to create an accredited training programme to help lawyers better understand the issues involved.

Accreditation could include a cultural understanding of forced marriages and honour-based violence, the interplay between sharia law and other religion-based law, the role of the expert witness and the Forced Marriages (Civil Protection) Act 2007.

A pilot will be launched later in the year. Frontline workers will then be able to contact accredited specialist lawyers if they need legal advice.

The government’s forced marriage unit deals with some 5,000 enquiries each year. Tony Hutchinson, Karma Nirvana project development manager and a former police officer, said lawyers accept they lack knowledge in this field: ‘The legal profession needs to understand the whole concept of forced marriage and honour-based violence.’