Richard Moorhead wonders what makes professionals tick
The SRA has published an interesting piece of research on what might make solicitors comply with their professional obligations (SRA (2012) Attitudes to regulation and compliance in legal services). It is based on a tool developed by the Dutch Ministry of Justice for considering and monitoring regulation strategies. It is called the Table of 11 because it breaks compliance into 11 factors suggesting that compliance can be voluntary (or spontaneous); or driven by monitoring or sanctions.
The model predicts that spontaneous compliance will depend upon: the lawyer’s knowledge of the regulations; the cost / benefit of compliance; the degree to which regulation in the area is accepted; the loyalty and obedience of the lawyer; and the existence of informal monitoring.
Aspects of monitoring influencing compliance include the probability a problem will be identified by informal or formal monitoring, other forms of detection and the extent to which monitoring is targeted.
Punishment makes up two elements of the model: the chance of sanctions and the severity of sanctions.
As such the approach seeks to provide understanding
