I have never thought that peer review was an appropriate quality assurance tool. It is an appropriate tool to assess how a solicitor and a firm conduct cases if there are concerns expressed by clients or colleagues.

The reason peer review was popular was that it replaced auditing of files with a ‘tick box’ method by the LSC.

A better guarantee of quality would be a proper system of CPD training that was rigorously enforced and specific to a solicitor’s area(s) of specialism. An element of assessment of competence every five years or so would identify those solicitors who were practising beyond a safe level of competence.

One other advantage of this approach would be that solicitors who undertake publicly funded work and those who do not would be treated exactly the same. Currently, legal aid solicitors are accredited, assessed, audited and reviewed to death, while others are merely subject to the Code of Conduct and Law Society guidance.

It is time for the Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority (in open consultation with the profession) to create a system of ‘quality assurance’ to replace panel membership and accreditation, which delivers an assurance of quality to all clients that does not involve a ‘badge’ or ‘sticker’, but is something of real substance.

AM Robinson, Partner and solicitor-advocate, Emmersons, Sunderland