In December 2007, when the board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority first debated the referrals rule, there was shock at the level of non-compliance. A year on, and with non-compliance still high, comes the realisation that solicitors who breach the rule often do so wilfully. The saving grace, such as it is, is that typically the breaches have not caused great harm to clients.

It has also taken a year for the SRA to rule out many of the possible measures to improve compliance that it outlined after the 2007 meeting – such as providing model agreements. So a new compliance and enforcement strategy is to be drawn up, which needs to be completed and brought into action quickly.

The polarised views of board members were evidence of what a difficult issue this continues to be, so it is no surprise that the board is backing a Law Society bid to put referrals high on the agenda of the Legal Services Board. Chancery Lane argues that a common approach is needed across the sector, because even if solicitors were banned from paying for referrals, introducers would turn to other legal services providers who are not.

This is what the LSB is there to do. Once the board is formally in situ at the apex of legal regulation, we will be interested to see if it has the stomach for this hottest of potatoes so early in its life.