Regulatory Powers

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) possesses a number of regulatory powers which derive principally from the General Regulations of the Law Society but also from a document entitled “Code and protocols for ensuring the effective functioning of the regulatory and non-regulatory arms of the Law Society“. These regulatory powers are granted to the SRA by the Law Society (who is still the principal regulator for these purposes but who operates through the vehicle of the SRA).

The Law Society itself operates under the powers conferred by a Royal Charter of 1845 – which still provides much of the constitutional basis for the Law Society’s corporate governance – and under the powers granted by a number of statutory provisions, including:

• the Solicitors Act 1974,
• the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990,
• the Access to Justice Act 1999, and
• the Legal Services Act 2007.

The main regulatory power of the SRA is that of drafting, promoting, monitoring, and enforcing the various regulations which affect solicitors. This involves the SRA in a number of processes including consulting on and then drafting and amending the Solicitors Code of Conduct and other rules (See Solicitors Codes and Rules), monitoring solicitors and their firms for compliance with these rules, investigating those firms about which concerns exist or complaints have been made and, where appropriate, taking disciplinary proceedings against the firms in question. This can range from a simple “Letter of advice”, where the SRA advise the individual or firm about their conduct, but basically takes no further action through to a striking off, where a solicitor is prevented from practising in the future, or an intervention, where the SRA goes into a firm and effectively closes it down.

However, the regulatory powers of the SRA are far wider than simply making and enforcing rules for solicitors, and their role is really to ensure that the public is protected, either directly or indirectly, at all stages of their interaction with solicitors and everyone associated with their firms, and to ensure that the legal process in so far as it affects the solicitors profession is a fair and just one.

This equates, therefore, to a far wider group of people who are subject to the regulatory powers of the SRA, including in addition to solicitors, recognised bodies, registered European and foreign lawyers and those employed by solicitors within their practices whether as clerks, legal executives or managers. In the future, this may even extend to a responsibility for what are known as Alternative Business Structures where external companies and businesses such as insurers, banks or even super-markets become involved in the provision of legal services.

So far as the actual tasks which are undertaken by the SRA are concerned, these include:

• all tasks associated with licensing individual solicitors and their firms including the keeping of the roll and the issue of practising certificates (see the separate item on practising certificates);
• the registration of European and foreign lawyers and bodies corporate;
• setting up and administering accreditation panels;
• issuing guidance on the interpretation and application of rules and regulations and on matters of professional conduct and standards – a function largely provided through the Professional Ethics Guidance Team and the Practice Support Unit;
• dealing with applications for waivers of and dispensations from the rules (see making a waiver application);
• provision of guidance on practice improvement and client care, and ensuring that solicitors are aware of what constitutes good practice generally;
• all issues relating to professional indemnity insurance including all of the aspects relating to the negotiation of minimum terms with insurers, the approval of insurers, setting the minimum level of cover and managing the Assigned Risks Pool for those firms unable to obtain insurance in the open market (see section of this site dealing with indemnity insurance);
• dealing with and managing the Compensation Fund (see the section dealing with the compensation fund);
• managing monies held on statutory trust following an intervention(see the section dealing with interventions);
• respond to external consultations on all matters within its terms of reference;
• managing the process for entry to the legal profession
• managing the process for continuing professional development

The SRA currently operates through a number of management groups overseen by a board, consisting of 16 members (nine solicitors – one of whom chairs the board – and seven lay people) assisted by a number of committees. The management groups are currently:

• Information – which deals with issues such as practising certificates, membership of the role and maintaining records
• Legal – which includes those departments that deal with disciplinary sanctions
• Policy and Communications – equality and diversity, maintenance of the web site and PR
• Regulation Response – which includes the Practice Support Unit, Forensic Investigations and casework
• Regulation Standards – which includes Policy (who draft the rules), the guidance team and education and training