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There have been two articles on the SRA this week, one in effect, relating to the very culture and DNA of being a solicitor, and now this article, regarding the attitude of the public, when choosing professionals to undertake conveyancing.

The issues highlighted form part of the same narrative – the tension which exists, between misguided, competition driven, regulatory activism, and solicitors still wanting to remain professionals, in the manner understood in other jurisdictions around the world.

Property law is always in the background of even the most mundane forms of conveyancing, and most solicitors still retain the best interests of the client at heart, willing to go the extra mile to help a client, not merely processing a case, just to hit a target for a “consumer”.

Legal work, and this may come as a shock to the SRA, can be infinite in its variety and the problems it throws up, and no two clients are the same.

It is the product of a retail mindset, that is alien to many solicitors, to suppose that they are somehow different to other professionals and can therefore accurately predict the time and complexity of all legal problems, within a rigid regulatory framework at the beginning of every case.

The SRA, which meets behind closed doors, expects solicitors to be “transparent” to an extent, that is unworkable, and paradoxically could damage the very solicitor and client relationship which should be based ultimately on integrity and reputation.

The recent marvellous Blue Planet TV series highlighted the fact, that coral reefs, which had taken decades to evolve, were being slowly eroded by the harmful effects of man.

Similarly, our “profession” after many decades of existence, is being slowly dismantled, by the overzealous implementation of a badly drafted Legal Services Act.

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