Report comment

Having been pursued by the SRA and having faced the essential 'economic blackmail' of accepting a RS or appearing before the SDT with the high likelihood of a significant costs order, then it is absolutely essential that the SRA are forced into much greater transparency as regards their justification for their actions and the presumption that the Solicitor cannot recover costs before the SDT, if the case has been 'properly brought' has to be reviewed.

The SRA do not currently operate on anything like a level playing in respect of their 'regulatory behaviours' and 'outcomes', so not only must justice be done, but it has to be seen to be done in the eyes of Solicitors.

Their Staff should be at risk of sanction, just as we are, if they fail in their own KPI's. But this is not the case at present.

I also wonder how the actual costs recovery will pan out, if the burden is lower ? They may be tempted to run far less to the SDT and increase the use of RS, or might they run more and the stats for recovery of costs isn't fantastic.

Everyone must get their insurance for SRA representation/defence cover in place and the LS ought to be promoting this across the Profession.