The Legal Services Act 2007 introduces a new regulatory regime for lawyers. Since January 2007 solicitor regulation has been in the hands of the Solicitors Regulation Authority. On 1 July the much awaited Solicitors’ Code of Conduct came into force.
The SRA talks of a risk based approach to regulation and has emphasised the need for transparency over, for example, its enforcement actions, concepts familiar to lawyers in financial services regulation. This paper sketches out the new regime and explores the parallels with financial services regulation and practice to identify where the SRA is heading, drawing on experience with not only financial services, but also solicitors disciplinary matters.
Business Law Review