I knew the independent report on SSB Law’s demise would be a bracing read when the SRA called a press conference for 2.30pm last Wednesday.
Get your retaliation in first, the spinners likely advised. The regulator initially intended to speak to reporters an hour before the Legal Services Board hosted its own media briefing.
Whether the LSB got wind of this, I don’t know. In the end, the SRA postponed its own presser until later. The left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing? How exquisitely appropriate.
Given the gravity of the Axiom Ince scandal, it would be hyperbole to describe Carson McDowell’s report on that particular debacle as a mere amuse-bouche. But only just. The SRA’s failings in respect of SSB are arguably worse. Here was a hopelessly ill-managed and disordered organisation culpable for a catalogue of eminently avoidable regulatory omissions. A string of systemic failures left blameless consumers acutely vulnerable to serious financial harm.
One paragraph of the 44-page report speaks for the whole (and there are a few to choose from). ‘The SRA failed to coherently draw together all the information which it held about SSB, failed to adequately assess the reports it received, and failed to carry out effective investigations in response to reports made to it about SSB. The SRA therefore missed opportunities to take effective regulatory steps at an earlier stage to protect consumers and the public.’
At times, the saga almost lapses into pantomime. Cavity wall claims were shunted from Pure Legal (collapsed) to SSB Law (collapsed) to JMR Solicitors (er, collapsed). Quick, pass the parcel – it’s ticking!
So what now? As is the British way, no one is being held accountable. SRA chief executive Paul Philip was on his way out anyway and chair Anna Bradley is sticking around to induct his successor, Sarah Rapson.
Insiders have told the Gazette that the SRA has evolved into a top-down hierarchical organisation in which staffers are accustomed to being talked ‘at’, rather than ‘to’. This can also be inferred from Carson McDowell’s reports.
Rapson will need to get to grips with the organisation’s cultural flaws as soon as she arrives. A few quid extra for staff training will not cut it.
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