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Principle 1: in a way that upholds the constitutional principle of the rule of law and the proper administration of justice. Principle 2: in a way that upholds public trust and confidence in the solicitors' profession and in legal services provided by authorised persons. Principle 3: with independence. Principle 4: with honesty.
- Status
- Who Is This Guidance for?
- Purpose of This Guidance
- General
- How We Reach Our Decision to Authorise A Firm
- How We Decide The Outcome of Your Firm’S Application
- Authorisation with Conditions
- Temporary Emergency Authorisation (Tea) of A Firm
This guidance is to help you understand your obligations and how to comply with them. We may have regard to it when exercising our regulatory functions.
Those applying to us to authorise their business as an SRA regulated recognised sole practice, recognised body or licensed body. You should first read our associated Firm Authorisation guidanceto check whether your business needs to be authorised and whether it is eligible to be authorised. That guidance also gives key information about the differe...
This guidance is about how we satisfy ourselves that your business is suitable to be authorised to provide reserved legal activities. What constitutes a reserved legal activity, and which ones we can regulate, are detailed in the associated Firm Authorisation guidance. This guidance should be read in the context of decision making at the SRA and ot...
As part of applying for authorisation of your firm, you will also need to ensure you seek approval of all role holders that require it. Full details about the role holders we need to approve, eligibility, and how we make our decision to approve them can be found in our separate guidance, Approval of Role Holders.
Basic information and initial screening
You must ensure your firm is eligible to be authorised (see our associated Firm Authorisation guidance). If your firm is not eligible and/or your application is incomplete, we will reject it (rule 1.1 of the Application, Notice, Review and Appeal Rules). A complete application is one where we have received all: 1. forms 2. supporting documents 3. any additional information requested by us 4. payment (where required – see our firm application fees pagefor more information). Until the applicati...
Other requirements
In addition to the eligibility requirements detailed, we can only grant an application for authorisation (rule 2.2 of the Authorisation of Firms Rules) if we are satisfied that: 1. the firm’s managers, interest holders or management and governance arrangements are suitable to operate or control a business providing regulated legal services 2. you will comply with our requirements and regulatory arrangements, and 3. it is not against the public interest or incompatible with the regulatory obje...
Investigating areas of risk
Once we have considered whether the basic requirements have been met, we will go on to assess if your firm, its governance or business model, pose a risk that we think requires further investigation. In particular, we will decide to refuse an application if we cannot be satisfied it meets the requirements detailed above. What we look at when considering these requirements is discussed below.
We can decide to authorise your firm unconditionally, with conditions, or refuse authorisation altogether, although this last one is rare. We will only refuse if we decide there is no suitable alternative, such as imposing conditions on the way the firm can practise, to manage the risks we have identified through the authorisation process.
All firms we regulate are subject to general conditions of practice (rules 6 to 12 of the Authorisation of Firms Rules). However, there will be occasions where a firm meets the minimum requirements to be authorised but where we consider that extra conditions are needed to mitigate a risk we have identified during the authorisation process. Our rule...
Change which brings into being a new unauthorised body or practice
We may grant TEA to a new partnership or a new sole practitioner firm that is formed following certain events. Those are most likely to be where a partnership ceases due to the death of the only other partner, or where there is a partnership split creating one or more new partnerships or sole practitioner firms. The application must be made within seven days of the event (rule 15.1(a) of the Authorisation of Firms Rules). Where we agree to grant this authorisation, it will run from the date o...
Death or incapacity of a sole practitioner
Where a sole practitioner dies or is incapacitated, we may grant TEA for the recognised sole practice to another solicitor or REL who is: 1. the sole practitioner's executor, personal representative, attorney under a lasting power of attorney, or Court of Protection deputy (as appropriate) 2. a practice manager appointed by the sole practitioner's executor, personal representative, attorney under a lasting power of attorney, or Court of Protection deputy (as appropriate), or 3. an employee of...
Nov 25, 2019 · Generally, you will only be able to provide reserved legal services as a solicitor through an entity that is authorised to do so – see our guidance on firm authorisation. However, if you are a solicitor practising on your own account, you can provide reserved legal services without being authorised as a recognised sole practice if you meet a number of conditions set out in regulation 10.2(b ...
A few practical tips for how to do this are set out below. 1. Identify the ‘client’. Identify the key individuals or core team within your organisation who will be responsible for giving instructions and receiving legal advice. They will be the ‘client’ for the purposes of determining privilege.
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Dec 15, 2010 · We are now told under section 147 (5) that, among other things, a solicitor cannot be an independent adviser if they are a ‘party to the contract or the complaint’ or, more to the point, if ...
Dec 1, 2022 · 83% of customers are highly satisfied with Practical Law and would recommend to a colleague. Improve Response Time. 81% of customers agree that Practical Law saves them time. End of Document. Resource ID 7-633-7078. A Q&A guide to the regulation of the legal profession in the UK (England and Wales).
People also ask
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Sep 11, 2019 · 13 Jul 2021. 9 minutes read. Follow topic. Print. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Standards and Regulations, introduced on 25 November 2019, allow solicitors to deliver non-reserved legal services to the public from within a business not regulated by a legal services regulator.
