SRA calls for separation from Law Society as regulators lobby LSB for greater independence

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has called for itself to be made fully independent from the Law Society as part of the governance review being carried out by the legal profession’s super-regulator, the Legal Services Board (LSB).  

The LSB is in charge of making sure that frontline regulators such as the SRA are able to do their job. The SRA is calling on the LSB to grant frontline regulators complete independence from their representative bodies, which in this case would mean separating the SRA from the Law Society, the body responsible for representing the interests of solicitors.

As Legal Futures reports, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers has joined the SRA in calling for the “maximum possible separation” between regulators and representative bodies, which it says will require them becoming separate legal entities. The calls have also been echoed by the Bar Standards Board, which is seeking greater independence from the Bar Council (the representative body for barristers), and CILEx.

The idea is opposed by the Law Society, which insists that it should retain some oversight of the SRA’s activities. The two organisations are often at odds and can regularly be found on opposing sides of various debates centring on the regulation of the profession and the training of solicitors.   

The LSB’s review into internal governance rules continues.