Problems with law firms and individuals

We regulate a wide range of legal professionals in the public interest, namely

• solicitors of England and Wales
• registered European lawyers (RELs) practising in England and Wales
• registered Foreign lawyers (RFLs) practising in England and Wales
• non-lawyer managers, owners approved by us and employees of firms
• law firms recognised by us

Firms are primarily responsible for ensuring compliance with our Principles, Code of Conduct, and our Handbook, but individuals are responsible for their own conduct too. When an individual or firm that we regulate is found to have breached one or more of our SRA Principles and we need to protect their clients and the wider public, we take regulatory action. Our range of regulatory outcomes include engaging and talking with firms to ensure compliance, controlling the way those we regulate work, preventing them from providing legal services, or even closing firms down if the breaches have been severe.

This section of the site aims to help you with some of the problems that you may have with a solicitor or firm that we regulate so that you know what to do about it, and how we are able to help you.

Find out more about

• how and when to report a solicitor or firm to the SRA—this page also tells you how to make complaints about poor service to your solicitor, and how and when you can follow up your complaint with the Legal Ombudsman;
• what to do if the solicitor you are instructing has closed;
• how to claim back money, papers and professional fees from us if a firm that we regulate has closed;
• how we use information that you have sent to us;
• the different ways in which we regulate solicitors, including what happens when we close a firm (known as "interventions"); and
• how to recognise fraud and dishonesty involving solicitors, including information on scams.

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