Graham Reid on the SRA's new powers
Since 31 March 2009, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has new powers to regulate firms of solicitors.
It will no longer be looking solely at individual responsibility for acts and omissions: it is also going after organisational under-performance and misconduct.
This new approach is reflected in changes to the Solicitors' Code of Conduct (the code). So, when the regulator says “you” must do something, in most cases this now means both solicitors and recognised bodies (the new label for what most people would still call “a solicitors' firm”).
These changes are backed up by enforcement powers. For minor infractions the SRA will be able to fine firms up to £2,000 and apply conditions to their authorisation. For the more serious cases the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) has the power to levy unlimited fines on all types of firms, their managers and employees.
Firm-based regulation is a sensible and inevitable development. For one thing, it corrects an anomaly under the old code whereby the SRA directly regulated individual solicitors and incorporated law
