In a conversation with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), following an audit, they outlined several areas of regulatory focus for the current year. These priorities span training, compliance, client care, and operational resilience, and firms are encouraged to review their internal practices accordingly.
Training
The SRA is placing renewed emphasis on the competence of legal professionals, with particular attention to:
- Ensuring all fee-earners have accurate and up-to-date training records.
- Providing adequate training in the technologies and IT systems used in day-to-day work.
- Delivering comprehensive training on regulation and ethics, with a specific focus on litigation fee-earners. While the SRA has not detailed the rationale behind this focus, it signals increased scrutiny in contentious practice areas.
Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Compliance
AML compliance remains a core regulatory concern. The SRA expects firms to maintain robust AML policies and procedures, and to ensure that all relevant staff are properly trained to understand and implement them effectively.
Client Care and Financial Management
The SRA has also reiterated the importance of sound financial and client care practices, even whilst we await the outcome from the recent consultation into client money, including:
- Client care letters and Terms of Business must be compliant with SRA standards, clearly outlining the firm’s obligations and the client’s rights.
- Ensuring residual balances are being dealt with promptly.
- Interest on client monies should be paid at appropriate rates, reflecting fairness and transparency.
- Firms should only request funds on account when necessary and must clearly explain the reason for the request and how the funds will be used.
- Technology and operational resilience
The SRA is also encouraging firms to test the resilience of their IT systems. This includes ensuring systems are secure, reliable, and capable of supporting business continuity, as well as confirming that staff are adequately trained to use them.
These regulatory priorities serve as a timely reminder for firms to assess their compliance frameworks and operational readiness.
The Hazlewoods Legal team is available to support firms in reviewing and strengthening their practices in line with SRA expectations and are able to provide training to firms across the UK – for more information head to our Financial, COFA & compliance training page. If you would like to discuss this further, please get in touch with the team.
