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Rayner my parade! The importance of specialist advice.
Jemma Brimblecombe
In this blog in our series about the new SRA Standards and Regulations (StaRs), Shannett Thompson blogs about accountability - including the need to exercise judgement independently, be prepared to be held accountable for the way in which it is exercised; and ensure it is documented.
In the second blog in this series, we referred to the cooperating and reporting obligations in the new Codes of Conduct being notably different, when compared to corresponding provisions in the 2011 Code of Conduct and to other rules and regulations in the 2011 Handbook.
It’s not the SRA that protects the public from rogue solicitors and law firms. It is the ethical choices underpinning the millions of decisions made by lawyers every day when no one is looking. Ethics is personal and while the SRA can set standards, guide conduct and provide the right framework and enforce robustly, it cannot watch over everyone all the time. Nor should it.
The new scheme heralds a sharper focus by the SRA on declaring and upholding proper standards in the private lives of those within its regulatory reach.
In November 2015, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) published its position paper “Looking to the Future”, through which it committed to a phased review of the SRA Handbook and its overall approach to regulation. It was also at this stage that a new regulatory model, with two distinct strands, was first proposed. This model sought, on the one hand, to regulate individuals through education and entry standards, on-going competence and ethical behaviours. On the other hand, it sought to regulate firms, with emphasis being on their systems and controls.
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Jemma Brimblecombe
Charles Richardson
Oliver Oldman
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