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This is what happens when the profession allows its regulator to (a) drift out of the profession's control, and (b) focus on the consumer "interest" as its prime concern, rather than the interests of justice (unlike the BSB).

I am not surprised that the SRA has gone in this direction, given that its parent quango is also interested more in the consumer interest than in the stability and robustness of the legal professions. And that the SRA is now dominated by lay people whose interests lie outside the profession.

Time for a major rethink on regulation. Bring it back in-house, and level the playing field so that everyone offering legal services has to comply with the same base standards (set by the LSB or its successor), and let the solicitors' profession set higher standards if it chooses to do so.

Otherwise, increasing numbers of solicitors will choose to be regulated by a more understanding regulator such as the BSB.