Regulator queries basis for Law Society review of regulation
9 October 2008
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) today expressed concern at the Law Society's announcement that it is to carry out a review of the regulation of law firms.*
SRA Chair Peter Williamson said: "It is extraordinary that the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the body recently established by the Law Society to regulate in the public interest, was given hardly any notice of the review. The absence of real advance consultation, coupled with comments about the review by the Law Society Chief Executive, Desmond Hudson, in the Law Society Gazette, suggest that the Law Society is confusing representative and regulatory functions. It was precisely this confusion which the SRA was established to avoid, and which Parliament sought to prevent when it passed the Legal Services Act 2007."
SRA Chief Executive Antony Townsend said: "We will contribute to the Law Society's review, though our strategy already includes an objective to ensure that our regulatory approach is appropriate to the many different kinds of legal practice undertaken by solicitors. We have already started work with City firms on the most appropriate means of regulating their kinds of practice, as well as looking at the way in which small firms are regulated. We consult the Law Society closely on such issues.
"There is a serious danger of duplication and confusion. It must be understood that the SRA's overriding priority is to regulate in the public interest."
* Reported by the Law Society Gazette