SRA Update

Welcome to Issue 60 of SRA Update.

I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year break.

The end of last year certainly saw no slow down in activity. Most notably, the Competition and Markets Authority published its final report on the legal services market. It provides a good foundation for our work in 2017. It strongly endorsed our reform proposals, which will help to tackle unmet need and support members of the public and small businesses to access legal services. You can read more about our work in our new Business Plan.

We have already published our initial ideas on how we can better share information to help the public and small businesses access legal services more easily, while also offering opportunities for you to grow your business. There is still time for you to send us your views on our discussion paper.

In a similar vein, we are also consulting on the waivers we give to help you explore new ways of working, and ensure we are not getting in the way of forward thinking firms.

You can also find the latest information on the dangers of cybercrime, and how to make sure you are aware of the risks of dubious investment schemes.

As ever, we would like to know your views on any of the issues covered in this edition.

Paul Philip

What is the most common type of cybercrime law firms report? Our latest cybercrime report provides you with an update on the latest risks and practical advice for how you can protect yourself and your clients. It is an ever growing risk which requires constant vigilance.

Read more about: Cybercrime

We have seen increasing reports and sanctions of solicitors involved in dubious investment schemes. We know the vast majority of solicitors and law firms would not knowingly become involved in such schemes, but you should all be aware of the signs. Building on our regular warnings, we have published a report to help you understand the nature of the risk, which can be so damaging to the public and the reputation of the profession.

Read more about: Investment schemes

We are consulting on proposed changes to applications for waivers so that more firms can explore innovative ways of delivering legal services. We want to remove barriers for firms to looking to develop new models without diluting the protections in place for the public and businesses.

Read more about: Waivers consultation

A vital part of our policy development and our continuous improvement of operational processes is input from the profession on the issues that matter to you. We have created various "virtual" reference groups, who feed back their perspectives on proposals we are working on. Find out how you can get involved with one of our groups, so you can help us develop and improve our approach.

Read more about: Virtually having your say

We have published our Business Plan for the current year, the third of our three-year Corporate Strategy. The Business Plan outlines how we will make further progress against our priorities of reforming regulation, enhancing professional standards, protecting clients, improving customer service levels and becoming more efficient.

Read more about: Business Plan

Bogus firms continue to be a problem. We have seen cases of scammers pretending to be fictitious firms or stealing the identity of existing firms, and trading on the profession's reputation to gain the confidence of unsuspecting members of the public.

Read more about: Bogus firms