The division between regulatory and representative functions of the Law Society is ‘inconsistent with the requirements of the Legal Services Act’ and ‘baffling to many consumers and solicitors’, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has told Lord Hunt’s regulation review.

In its submission to the Law Society-commissioned review, the SRA says the Legal Services Board must make ‘necessary changes’ to the Society’s internal governance rules.

‘Our firm view is that regulatory functions must be demonstrably – not just technically – independent from representative functions if the new regulatory framework is to gain public confidence,’ the SRA says.

The SRA says the pace of regulatory change since the SRA was established in 2007 ‘is such that perceptions, in the profession and elsewhere, of how we regulate are likely to run behind reality.’

The SRA says it inherited regulatory practices from the ­Society that were ‘lacking in transparency, proportionality and consistency, and which sometimes placed too much reliance on a "box-ticking" approach.’

Hunt will provide an initial response to submissions later this spring, to be followed by a second consultation phase before his final report is published in the autumn.

The SRA’s submission is available at www.sra.org.uk. The Law Society’s submission is available at www.lawsocietymedia.org.uk.