The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is to be investigated in connection with its actions prior to the collapse of Sheffield law firm SSB Group
The independent review, announced by the Legal Services Board (LSB) last week, will be added to the ongoing review into the SRA’s actions leading to its intervention into Axiom Ince.
SSB Group, which specialised in cavity wall insulation claims, went into administration in January with debts of more than £200m. Its after-the-event insurance providers refused to pay legal costs when the claims were discontinued, and the defendants then pursued SSB’s clients for those costs.
The LSB, in partnership with Belfast firm Carson McDowell, will publish the additional terms of reference ‘shortly’. It intends to report on Axiom Ince in the spring and on SSB in the summer.
The LSB review into Axiom Ince began in January 2024. The SRA closed the firm in October after suspending three directors in August 2023 amid reports £60m was missing from client accounts.
