In July, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) proposed a framework of requirements on client information, notification, risk assessments and orderly closure plans, to give itself ‘earlier visibility of emerging risks’ in high-volume consumer claims. Its consultation, ‘Protecting consumers when solicitors and law firms use and/or arrange third-party litigation funding for consumer claims’, closed last week.
Responding, the Law Society said many of the issues highlighted are already covered by professional regulations.
Martyn Day, co-president of Collective Redress Lawyers Association (CORLA), said: ‘Only if the SRA identifies problematic practices where there is a greater risk of consumer harm should more burdensome obligations be imposed on that law firm.
‘It can’t be the case that one bad apple, such as the collapse of SSB group, spoils the whole barrel.’
Litigation funder Winward Litigation Finance’s CIO Jeremy Marshall warned the proposed regulatory regime ‘would be impossible to devise and onerous for law firms’.
