The SRA Handbook is no longer in effect. It was replaced by the SRA Standards and Regulations on 25 November 2019.

SRA Handbook

Eligibility criteria and fundamental requirements for recognised bodies

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Rule 13: Eligibility criteria and fundamental requirements for recognised bodies

13.1

To be eligible to be a recognised body, a body must be a legal services body namely a partnership, company or LLP of which:

(a)

at least one manager is:

(i)

a solicitor with a current practising certificate, or

(ii)

an REL, or

(iii)

(in the case of a partnership or LLP) a body corporate which is a legally qualified body with at least one manager who is a solicitor with a current practising certificate or an REL; and

(b)

all of the managers and interest holders are lawyers and legally qualified bodies.

Services requirement

13.2

The business of a recognised body may consist only of the provision of:

(a)

professional services of the sort provided by individuals practising as solicitors and/or lawyers of other jurisdictions; and

(b)

professional services of the sort provided by notaries public, but only if a notary public is a manager or employee of a recognised body,

but this does not prevent a recognised body providing services within Chapter 12 (Separate businesses) of the SRA Code of Conduct, or holding an interest in a company which is a separate business.

Guidance notes

(i)

Although most organisations which involve non-lawyers as managers or interest holders must be licensed bodies, there is a limited exception under section 72(2) of the LSA which permits a small degree of non-lawyer involvement in recognised bodies. Where one or more bodies are involved in a firm as a manager or owner/interest holder, and in those bodies non-authorised persons have only a de minimis (less than 10%) control by way of voting rights, then the firm will remain a legal services body requiring recognition under the AJA. Where the control is 10% or more, the firm will be a licensable body.

(ii)

The services requirement in 13.2 should be read in conjunction with Chapter 12 of the SRA Code of Conduct. Certain services which could be offered through a "permitted separate business" (see Chapter 12) can also be provided in conjunction with a firm or in-house practice whilst still complying with the services requirement in 13.2. These services, which extend or fall outside the scope of the professional services mentioned in 13.2, are:

(a)

education and training activities; and

(b)

authorship, journalism and publishing.