A solicitor complained that six months after the Solicitors Regulation Authority had found two ‘minor infractions’, the firm’s partners were told by phone that they had been reprimanded and had to pay £500 in costs (see [2009] Gazette, 9 April, 9). The solicitor was unhappy the decision would be published on the SRA website and that a condition would be placed on his or her practising certificate.

Without knowing what the infractions were, it is not possible to comment on the detail, though I would be willing to look at the matter further if the solicitor concerned were to approach me. However, it is virtually certain that the firm was involved in correspondence with us after the infractions had been identified. It is standard practice for a solicitor to be informed of a regulatory decision in writing, not by phone. The policy of seeking to recover the costs of an investigation, based on the time taken to deal with the matter, dates from 2002 and is based on the principle that solicitors whose actions have required a regulatory response should make a fair contribution to the costs involved.

Regulatory decisions are published when the SRA considers it to be in the public interest to do so, to demonstrate transparency. The details published enable prospective clients and others to distinguish the relative seriousness of conditions. They demonstrate what regulatory action has or is being taken.

Antony Townsend, Chief executive, Solicitors Regulation Authority