By Rachel Rothwell


The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is to extend the consultation period for its controversial proposals on the way foreign lawyers re-qualify as solicitors - but will not back down on the main changes.



Plans to increase the requirements on foreign lawyers wishing to work in the UK have proved highly unpopular with City firms and ethnic minority groups.



Under the interim proposals likely to be introduced at the end of April, foreign lawyers will need to spend a year practising the law of England and Wales under direct supervision of a solicitor before they can qualify here. The restrictions will remain in place while the SRA conducts a full two-year review.



City firms have warned that the requirements will make London less attractive for foreign talent than international rivals such as New York, where it will be far easier to practise. Ethnic minority groups claim the new rules would adversely affect lawyers from Africa and other parts of the world.



An SRA spokeswoman said a new consultation document - which will provide more detail about what is proposed - would be published this week, with an extended deadline for responses of 11 April. However, she added that the SRA believes the changes were needed to address serious weaknesses in the current transfer system. SRA chairman Peter Williamson added that, with one in five new solicitors qualifying through this route, it was important to apply appropriate standards.



The spokeswoman added that the deadline extension was partly so the SRA could hear from groups that believed they would be disadvantaged. She said: 'We are interested in whether the proposals will impact on any particular group, but that will have to be balanced against the need for one [single] standard.'



David McIntosh, chairman of the City of London Law Society, said: 'While it is good news that the SRA is extending its consultation period, it is bad news that it is implying that it is entrenched in its intentions.'



Black Solicitors Network chairman Michael Webster said he was 'surprised and disappointed' that the SRA was still pressing ahead with the proposals.