Law Society lobbies against SRA plan for solicitors in unregulated firms

The Solicitor Regulation Authority’s (SRA) plan to allow solicitors to practise from unregulated businesses has been met with criticism and lobbying, although solicitors in small firms are still mainly ignorant about the proposed changes.

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has until 5 November to approve the application which would allow solicitors to deliver legal services to clients from unregulated businesses. The individual solicitors would still be subject to SRA regulation.

The Law Society has lobbied the LSB to directly reject the proposal, and the LSB has said that it received another 128 submissions against the changes.

However, LexisNexis has reported that the majority of small and medium-sized firms were “simply unaware” of the proposal. Of the 200 firms surveyed, almost half believed that the change would be a risk to the profession, but only 29% thought there would be a direct risk to their firm.

Jon Whittle, market development director at LexisNexis UK, commented: “The SRA is there to ensure standards are maintained, but it needs to act in a way that does not alienate the firms with which it works.

“There is a pervasive concern that reforms could drive unfair levels of competition, compromise the rule of law, and lead to a race to the bottom, fundamentally damaging business reputation and bottom line.”