Nigel Savage says the UK's 'liberal attitude' to globalisation and free trade needs to be 'weighed against the need to safeguard standards and protect the public' (see [2008] Gazette, 10 April, 15). The task of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), as a proportionate regulator, is to uphold solicitors' standards while avoiding unnecessary barriers.


However, Mr Savage overlooks the fact that the UK owes its pre-eminent position in the global legal market to high standards. As Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw said when launching a Law Society campaign on 6 March: 'The UK's legal profession is one of the finest in the world. The expertise, the professionalism, the dedication to delivering justice is unrivalled. That is well recognised across the world.' It is these standards that the SRA is striving to safeguard.



Our proposals, on which we are currently consulting, represent a relatively small change in our guidance to ensure that those applying to become solicitors in England and Wales have some experience of the law of those countries. The experience could be obtained abroad. By international standards, that is a modest requirement, one which I believe most users of legal services would consider to be sensible and reasonable. We will continue to welcome competent lawyers from overseas to practise here.



Peter Williamson, chairman, Solicitors Regulation Authority