Legal Services

To whom can a client complain?

1. law firm (each law firm has a complaints procedure)

2. legal ombudsman

• To be used after firm’s internal complaints procedure is exhausted and complaint is about poor service and fees/bills from solicitors

• LO can require solicitor to: apologise, pay compensation, correct or put right and error or omission, take specific action in the interests of the complainant, pay for costs of complaint, limit the firm’s fees

• no power to discipline or fine a lawyer

3. SRA

• Complaint regarding misconduct, dishonesty or breaches of the SRA’s rules

• SRA has power to: issue a warning to the firm, impose a disciplinary sanction like a fine, reprimand the solicitor for professional misconduct, order the solicitor to repay or refund the whole or part of the costs of the client, impose restrictions on a lawyer’s ability to practice, institute disciplinary proceedings before the SDT, revoke recognition of a firm or close down a firm

4. Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal

• deals with serious breaches of the SRA’s rules and disciplines solicitors

• It can: strike a solicitor off the roll, suspend a solicitor from practice for a fixed or indefinite period, reprimand a solicitor, impose a fine, awards costs against a party to proceedings or make a restriction order imposing a restriction on the area in which a solicitor can practice

what bodies regulate the legal profession?

- Legal Services Board regulates all lawyers in England and Wales.

- Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) regulates solicitors, law firms and individuals who work for businesses authorised by the SRA.

- Bar Standards Board regulates barristers.

- Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX) regulates legal executives.

- Council for Licensed Conveyancers regulates licensed conveyancers.

- Costs Lawyers Standards Board regulates costs lawyers.

what are the 3 key roles of the SRA as a regulator?

authorise - organisations and individual to provide legal services +

• Reserved legal activities (unless exempt)

• Immigration services (unless regulated by the Office of the Immigration Service (OISC))

• Claims management services (unless regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA))

• Regulated financial activities (unless regulated by FCA)

supervise - sets standards for solicitors and supervises those it authorises to practice

• Carries out risk-based oversight of the entire regulated community.

• The SRA deals with conduct issues and breaches of its rules, rather than complaints about solicitors / firms.

• If an individual / firm is unwilling to make, or incapable of making, necessary improvements or the issue is so grave that formal sanctions are needed in order for public confidence to be maintained or to act as a deterrent then the SRA will refer the individual / firm for enforcement action.

enforce

• Issue a warning to the firm

• Impose a disciplinary sanction (e.g. a fine)

• Reprimand the solicitor for professional misconduct (e.g. by issuing a rebuke)

• Order the solicitor to repay or refund the whole or part of the costs to the client

• Impose restrictions on a lawyer’s ability to practice

• Institute disciplinary proceedings before the Solicitor’s Disciplinary Tribunal

• Revoke recognition of a firm

• Close down a firm

what is the SRA risk based regulation?

It uses two components to define risk: the impact of a certain event occurring and the probability that event will occur.

The SRA calculates a risk score by multiplying the impact of a certain event occurring by the probability that the event will occur which allows it to prioritise its allocation of resources according to its risk priorities.

The SRA publishes Risk Outlook Reports (usually annually) identifying key risks facing the legal profession and what can be done to manage those risks.

• The SRA Regulatory Framework requires law firms and their staff to take steps to reduce those risks.

what does the SRA set out in the SRA Standards and Regulations 2019 (SRA Standards and Regulations)?

The SRA sets out the ethical and professional standards it expects from solicitors, law firms, people that work in those law firms and other legal businesses

Key documents include:

• SRA Principles

• Code of Conduct for Solicitors, Registered European Lawyers, Registered Foreign Lawyers and Registered Swiss Lawyers (CCS)

• Code of Conduct for Firms (CCF)

• SRA Accounts Rules - regulate how law firms hold and manage client’s money.

what are the SRA principles?

The SRA Principles requires individuals and firms to act:

• In a way that upholds the constitutional principle of the rule of law and the proper administration of justice (Principle 1);

• In a way that upholds public trust and confidence in the solicitors’ profession and in legal services by authorised persons (Principle 2);

• With independence (Principle 3);

• With honesty (Principle 4);

• With integrity (Principle 5);

• In a way that encourages equality, diversity and inclusion (Principle 6);

• In the best interests of each client (Principle 7).

what are the SRA Indemnity Insurance Rules?

Requires law firms to:

• ‘Take out and maintain professional indemnity insurance that provides adequate and appropriate cover in respect of current or past practice taking into account any alternative arrangements the body or its clients may take.’

• ‘Ensure that its clients have the benefit of the indemnity insurance required under these rules and must not exclude or attempt to exclude liability below the minimum level of cover required under these rules

Where a client or third party makes a claim against a solicitor (or gives notice of an intention to do so) and the claim may be covered by the firm’s indemnity insurance policy, then, if the client or third party requests, the authorised body has to provide the client or third party with the name of the insurance company, the policy number and the address and details of the insurance company.

The policy must cover civil liability the authorised body might incur and in relation to any claim for civil liability.

For most authorised bodies (except for sole practitioners, non -LLP partnerships) the minimum cover limit for any one particular claim is £3 million (which does not include the cover for defence costs).

When must a legal business be authorised by the SRA?

Organisations will need to get their legal services businesses authorised if they provide any of the following:

• Reserved legal services for the public, unless the business is exempt from authorisation

• Immigration services, unless the business is regulated by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC)

• Claims management services, unless the business is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

• Regulated financial activities, unless the business is regulated by the FCA.

what are reserved legal activities?

Reserved legal actitivies are activities which can only be provided by someone authorised by an approved regulator to do so. They are:

• Rights of audience - the right to appear before and address a court, including the right to call and examine witnesses.

• Conduct of litigation - the issuing of proceedings before any court in England and Wales; the commencement, prosecution and defence of such proceedings; and the performance of any ancillary functions in relation to such proceedings (e.g. entering appearances to actions).

• Reserved instrument activities - includes preparing any instrument of transfer or charge for the purposes of the Land Registration Act 2002; making an application or lodging a document for registration under that Act; and preparing any other instrument relating to real or personal estate for the purposes of the law of England and Wales.

• Certain probate activities – preparing any probate papers for the purposes of the law of England and Wales or in relation to any proceedings in England and Wales.

• Administration of oaths – exercising the powers given by one of the Acts relating to administering oaths (e.g. Commissioners for Oaths Act 1889). It includes affirming and declaring oaths and taking affidavits.

If a business only provided non-reserved legal services, it does not need to be authorised.

what are the 3 categories of organisation that can be authorised by the SRA to provide legal services?

Sole Practice

• A sole practice is where a solicitor practises on their own account, providing services in their own name or under a trading name.

• When the SRA authorises a sole practice, it is called a ‘recognised sole practice’.

• ‘sole practice’ means a sole principal. In other words, a sole practitioner can employ several qualified solicitors, as long as those solicitors are not also principals (eg not partner or co-owners) of the practice.

Legal services body

• A legal services body is a firm within which all managers/interest holders are lawyers. A legal services body can be a partnership, company or limited liability partnership (LLP)

• Once a legal services body is authorised by the SRA it is called a ‘recognised body’.

• The most common form is a law firm

Licensable body

• A licensable body is one within which the managers/interest holders includes both lawyers and non-lawyers.

• Once a licensable body is authorised by the SRA, it is called a licensed body/ alternative business structure (ABS)

How are multi-national law firms regulated?

Registered foreign lawyers practising in England and Wales are required to comply with CCS and other SRA regulations.

SRA regulated individuals and authorised bodies practising in offices established outside England and Wales are required to comply with the SRA Overseas Rules 2013 and with certain provisions of CCS, as set out in the Overseas and Cross-Border Practice Rules within the Standards and Regulations.

Are law centres and legal advice centres regulated?

• A law centre gives legal advice to the public and casework is undertaken for clients. The service is usually free or subject to a contribution from legal aid.

• A legal advice centre is one where the public can attend for legal advice but no casework is undertaken (eg the Citizen’s Advice Bureau).

Law Centres and Legal Advice Centres may not be authorised by the SRA, eg if they do not provide reserved legal activities.

Regardless of whether the law centre/legal advice centre is authorised, solicitors who work there must comply with the Code of Conduct for Solicitors RELs and RFLs (CCS); even if they are unpaid.

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