All articles by Charles Plant
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FeatureRisk and compliance: challenge of change
The SRA has made big changes to the way it regulates over recent years, says the board chair, but there is more to do.
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OpinionTraining for tomorrow
Solicitors need to be equipped to practise in a more competitive and customer-focused environment.
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News
PC lessons have been learned
Ensuring that the 2012 round of practising certificate (PC) renewals is a smoother and more reliable experience than last year’s has been top of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s agenda. We recognise that the last renewals round caused serious inconvenience for many who engaged in the process and this was not ...
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News
ABSs era producing innovative legal services
ABS licensing has gathered pace over the summer with August seeing a surge of licensing approvals. So far 28 licences have been granted with more in the final stages of the application process. It was always going to be difficult to predict the level of interest and type of structures ...
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News
Assurance scheme will protect the public
The Quality Assurance Scheme for Criminal Advocates (QASA) is soon to become a reality. From January next year, for the first time all criminal advocates, including barristers, solicitors and legal executives, will be assessed against a set of common standards to assure the quality of criminal advocacy in courts in ...
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News
Why the SRA scrapped the minimum salary for trainees
Since a minimum salary for trainees was introduced in 1982, there have been numerous debates around the appropriateness of both the SRA and the Law Society intervening in the market for trainee solicitors. Today the SRA is one of the few professional regulators that currently sets a minimum salary for ...
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News
COLPs and COFAs central to outcomes-focused regulation
The launch of outcomes-focused regulation (OFR) on 6 October 2011 marked a pivotal shift in how law firms are regulated, with a less prescriptive and more risk-based approach. It has required firms to look closely at how they run their businesses and whether they have appropriate systems and procedures in ...
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News
Gap in the market
We are in a period of profound change. Last month saw the culmination of the ambitions of legislators to liberalise the legal market with the approval of the first SRA-licensed alternative business structures. Their introduction heralds a major restructuring of the way in which legal services will be delivered in ...
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News
Online system will transform services
I am strongly aware of the serious frustrations that have been expressed over the problems and delays with mySRA, our new online application system. The introduction of this enormous IT project has not been a smooth process and, on behalf of the SRA, I would like to apologise to everyone ...
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News
Contingency plan
Reaction to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill (LASPO) has primarily focused on the reduction in availability of legal aid and the proposed ban on referral fees in personal injury cases. Surprisingly little attention has to date attached to clause 44 of LASPO, which will enable contingency ...
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News
2011 was a transformational year for regulation
In my column a year ago, I described the year ahead as pivotal for legal services. In the last 12 months we have introduced a radically new way of regulating legal services, including publication of a new Handbook. We prepared intensively for the licensing of alternative business structures (ABSs). And ...
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News
All legal services should be regulated
The debate about which legal services should be regulated and which should not is not new. Over the years, reserved activities have been added in an ad hoc fashion and the result has been: confusion for consumers; firms being set up to undertake activities that are entirely unregulated with no ...
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News
Radical shift in regulating overseas practice
The demand for legal services from England and Wales has become increasingly international over the last decade and the Solicitors Regulation Authority needs to take account of this in the way in which it regulates.
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News
OFR provides a sound framework for the future
Last week marked a major landmark for every solicitor and law firm that we regulate. On 6 October our old, prescriptive rule book became history. With outcomes-focused regulation (OFR) we will focus on the issues that really matter and which suit the fast-paced, modern and liberalised legal services market. ...
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News
New suitability test will be a cornerstone
With a move to a system which is based on principles rather than rules, it becomes even more important that we ensure only those who can meet those principles enter the legal profession. I have always taken a keen interest in legal education and training as ...
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News
The definition of reserved legal activities should be extended
The imminent liberalisation of the legal services market has resulted in issues relating to reserved legal activities receiving close scrutiny. Organisations that provide legal services are only regulated under the Legal Services Act if they undertake one or more reserved activities (litigation and advocacy, probate services and conveyancing). ...
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News
The Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocacy is robust
Good-quality advocacy is essential to protect the public and deliver fair results in the criminal justice system. Last month the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) and ILEX Professional Standards (IPS), came a step closer to radically overhauling the quality assurance of criminal ...
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News
SRA has been engaging with legal profession in preparation for OFR
Since the beginning of May, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has been visiting towns and cities across England and Wales to meet solicitors to talk about the SRA Handbook and outcomes-focused regulation (OFR), our new approach to regulation which starts on 6 October. By 16 June, ...
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News
Our overhaul of client financial protection is key to long-term sustainability
It is little surprise that our recent announcement about the overhaul of client financial protection arrangements has attracted much interest and debate in the media and among clients, practitioners and insurers. Last month, following extensive engagement and consultation, we announced a staged approach to ...
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News
It is vital that law firms fully prepare for outcomes-focussed regulation
Thursday 6 October 2011 marks the start of a radical new approach to the way the SRA regulates solicitors and law firms. On this day, regulation becomes more flexible and less prescriptive with the introduction of outcomes-focused regulation (OFR). It ...