The solicitor who attempted to force a vote of no confidence in the Solicitors Regulation Authority over looming compliance reforms has described the regulator’s decision to take a step back as a welcome reprieve for small firms.
However Jade Gani, of Taplow-based Circe Law, said the SME & Boutique Law Firm Alliance that she founded will continue to pressure the SRA to ‘do better’.
The regulator announced yesterday that rules requiring law firm owners to separate compliance officers for legal practice and compliance officers for finance and administration roles from individuals with unilateral decision-making powers will not come into force in January. The split – expected to affect hundreds of firms where the same person holds both roles – was paused last month.
The regulator said the rules will be mothballed at least until it has completed wider engagement on the best approach. In the meantime, the SRA is identifying higher-risk firms and directly working with them on establishing separate management and compliance roles where necessary.
Gani attempted to force a no-confidence motion in the SRA at the Law Society’s AGM last week, but this was ruled out of order.
‘The SME & Boutique Law Firm Alliance is pleased to hear that the SRA have kicked the proposed COLP/COFA plans “into the long grass” and remain open to continued engagement with the SRA on the matter,’ she said. ‘While this is a positive reprieve for many SME and boutique law firms, we are keen to understand what metric is being used to identify the “high-risk” firms the SRA say they are focused on currently, and whether the SRA plans on introducing any of the other measures we suggested to them that might better protect client monies.
‘This is a step in the right direction, but there is still a lot of work to do. The SME & Boutique Law Firm Alliance is dedicated to continuing to advocate for smaller law firms and sole practitioners while maintaining the pressure on our regulator to do better.’
The Law Society also welcomed the SRA’s retreat, stressing that ‘any new measures must reflect operational realities for law firms’.
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