How the SRA regulates solicitors and law firms

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is the body that regulates solicitors and the firms they work in across England and Wales. It sits within a framework created by the Legal Services Act 2007, which established a system of approved regulators overseen by the Legal Services Board. The SRA is the independent regulatory arm of the Law Society, deliberately separated from the Society’s role of representing the profession, so that the regulator’s decisions are not coloured by the interests of those it regulates.

Its core rulebook is the SRA Standards and Regulations, which came into force in 2019 and replaced a longer and more prescriptive predecessor. At its heart are a set of principles, such as acting with integrity, in a way that upholds the rule of law and the proper administration of justice, and in the best interests of clients, together with codes of conduct for individual solicitors and for firms. The approach is intended to be outcomes-focused, setting standards of behaviour rather than dictating every step, and placing responsibility on firms and individuals to exercise judgement.

The SRA authorises firms and individuals to practise, sets the requirements for qualifying and for continuing competence, and maintains the register that lets anyone check whether a solicitor is genuine and in good standing. It also supervises firms on a risk basis, paying particular attention to areas where the potential for harm is greatest, such as the handling of client money and compliance with anti-money-laundering obligations.

When things go wrong, the SRA investigates and can impose a range of sanctions. For less serious matters it can deal with a case itself, issuing rebukes, imposing conditions on how a solicitor or firm may practise, or levying fines. Its internal fining power for traditional firms was increased in 2022 to £25,000, allowing it to resolve more cases without referral elsewhere, and separate legislation has given it much greater, effectively unlimited, fining powers in matters connected to economic crime. More serious cases, particularly those involving allegations of dishonesty, are referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, an independent body with the power to suspend a solicitor or strike them off the roll entirely.

Behind the disciplinary machinery sits a wider purpose. Regulation of solicitors exists to protect the public and to maintain confidence in legal services, because clients often cannot judge the quality of the advice they receive and are frequently at their most vulnerable when they need a lawyer. The SRA’s remit, from setting the standards a solicitor must meet to qualify, through supervising firms, to enforcing the rules when they are broken, is built around that protective role rather than around the interests of the profession itself.