Advice for Regulators and Public Bodies

We have acted for regulatory authorities for several decades, providing advice on all matters concerning their regulatory functions and operations, including fitness to practise schemes, information assurance, compliance, legal challenges and criminal prosecutions.

We have considerable knowledge of all of the major regulatory sectors including health and social care, finance, professional services and education.

The diverse issues often faced by our regulatory clients means that they benefit from the expertise of our public law, criminal litigation, company and commercial, dispute resolution and employment teams. Specialist advice is given seamlessly across these teams providing continuity and the reassurance that every angle has been considered. 

Our clients benefit from our knowledge and experience gained through our work with similar organisations. We provide practical and commercial advice to help regulators better fulfil their public interest objectives, in the knowledge that many are accountable to their stakeholders for the exercise of their regulatory functions.

It is not only large established regulators that require specialist legal advice; small, start-up and voluntary organisations can also benefit. Ensuring that your organisation has good governance arrangements and a suite of policies and procedures that can help guide and achieve compliance, should be seen as a priority. Taking advice once there is a problem is rarely the best strategy.

Whilst each of our client relationships is unique, they bear similar hallmarks. In the initial stages, we spend time working closely with the organisation to understand its priorities and imperatives to determine how we can best work together to meet them. When investigating fitness to practise allegations, we use a robust case management system to monitor and track the progress of cases. We place considerable emphasis on a continuing and open dialogue with our regulatory clients to ensure we are meeting shared objectives and expectations. Through the deployment of a structured process improvement methodology, we also provide our clients with measurable improvements to their processes, resulting in resource savings for all.

Our approach 

We work collaboratively with our regulatory and organisational clients rather than advising from a distance. We take the time at the outset of the relationship to understand their key priorities in the short and long term so that our advice is correct for the moment but also responsive to future changes in the sector.  We mould our communication, meeting and reporting style to meet our clients’ needs and preferences.  We ensure that our clients have direct access to a partner supported by a team of lawyers, providing the reassurance that someone is always on hand to respond when the need arises. 

We understand that our clients are ultimately accountable to their stakeholders for the efficiency and performance of their regulatory operations and we act to enhance and protect their reputation.  We provide cost-effective legal support that is based on our excellent technical skills and legal knowledge and is driven by a desire to help our clients improve their own processes and systems.  Our dedicated process improvement lawyer works closely with our regulatory and organisational clients to deliver processes and legal solutions that are innovative as well as effective for the future.

We provide a personal, supportive and professional service.  Our clients report that they value the mix of approachability, excellent technical skills and the commitment to improving their operations that our team provides.

Our clients

We have acted for regulatory authorities for almost 50 years; our expertise in investigating and litigating in disciplinary cases crosses a number of sectors including health and social care, education, finance, security and professional services. We are privileged to have worked with the following bodies:   

• The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) 
• The Security Industry Authority (SIA) 
• The Architects Registration Board (ARB)
• Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) 
• The General Teaching Council (GTC) 
• The General Optical Council (GOC) 
• The General Dental Council (GDC) 
• A voluntary regulator of complementary healthcare providers 
• The Teaching Agency
• The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL)
• Ofgem 
• Academy for Healthcare Science (AHCS)
• A voluntary regulator of language professionals
• National Register for Communication Professionals for Deaf and Deafblind (NRCPD) 
• UK Board of Healthcare Chaplaincy (UKBHC)
• The Education Workforce Council for Wales (EWC)
• The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) 
• The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) 
• The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)