In June 2008 we published the first edition of The Solicitor’s Handbook. It was intended to: replace and improve upon the old Guide to Professional Conduct; collect in one place all of the rules and regulations that solicitors need to refer to in order to ensure regulatory compliance; and describe the workings of the disciplinary and regulatory systems in practice. We believed that there was a real need for such a book, and our book was addressed to ‘you’, the solicitor.

Our hopes were realised. The book found its market and sold well. Reviewers and readers were kind in their comments. The result has been that the Law Society commissioned us to write an updated version, The Solicitor’s Handbook 2009, published by Law Society Publishing.

It is no exaggeration to say that 2009 represents a revolutionary year in the regulation of the profession. The SRA is adopting a firm- or entity-based regulatory system, in which the entity, as well as the individuals within it, will be liable to fines, rebukes, and controls on the way in which it practises. For the first time also, the SRA’s reach will extend to non-solicitor employees of a law firm.

Moreover, solicitors are starting to appreciate the extraordinary changes wrought by the Legal Services Act 2007. In March 2009 came the first legal disciplinary partnerships. Lawyers of different disciplines may now enter into partnership and non-lawyers may own up to 25% of an LDP. Unsurprisingly there has been little interest shown; while billed as a stepping stone to full alternative business structures, in fact the step has been very small, because all non-lawyer ‘investors’ in a law firm must still be managers of it. There will be no equivalent of a non-director shareholder before 2011.

Regulators themselves are feeling the invigorating wind of competition. A law firm handling only conveyancing and probate can choose whether to be regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers (CLC), or by the SRA. Which will it choose? Add into the mix the SRA’s onerous requirements on referral fees and the extremely relaxed approach of the CLC to the same issue and the answer may not be hard to find. The SRA may find itself losing out in the race to regulate those who provide conveyancing services, even though individual solicitors within the entity will continue to be regulated by the SRA (though very few rules in the Code of Conduct would then apply to them).

The tide of regulatory material continues to sweep down upon solicitors. There are several sets of new Regulations in the appendices to the 2009 edition of our book; new Recognised Body Regulations, new rules relating to sole practitioners and a completely new practising certificate regime. The Code of Conduct, introduced in July 2007, has been significantly amended over the last year. Just around the corner are ABSs, and the replacement of the Legal Complaints Service with a new and independent Office for Legal Complaints.

Fundamental questions remain unanswered however, and we have sought to stimulate debate about them in these pages and elsewhere over the last year. What is the correct role of the SRA – should it see itself as enforcer or supervisor? Does it strike the right balance between informing and advising solicitors on the one hand, and taking adversarial steps against them on the other? Many of our clients believe that the regulatory hand is too heavy and too unsympathetic.

We trace all recent developments in our new edition. We hope that The Solicitor’s Handbook 2009 will enable solicitors up and down the land to ‘get it right’. If so, our labours in updating it will have been worthwhile.

The Solicitor’s Handbook 2009 (£69.95, ISBN 9781853287794) is available via www.lawsociety.org.uk/bookshop or telephone 0870 850 1422.