Reports and Complaints of Misconduct
Complaints or reports can be made to the SRA by anybody from members of the public and clients to misconduct reports from the courts, or whistle-blowers within the business.
While all reports and complaints of misconduct are acknowledged, not all of them are acted on. SRA investigations focus on any concerns of misconduct that could be most likely to harm public interest, so a risk-based approach is taken when assessing reports.
The SRA has a three-stage assessment tool which decides whether a concern will be investigated.
It is worth noting that concerns about poor service do not fall within the remit of the SRA; these should be reported to the Legal Ombudsman.
The Three Stage Test
The three questions asked that dictate whether SRA investigations are launched, or not, are as follows:
- Based on the reported concern, has there been a potential breach of SRA standards?
- Is the breach serious enough that if proven could lead to regulatory action?
- Is there evidence to prove such a breach?
When the answer to all three is yes, it is highly likely that the SRA’s investigation will go ahead. If facing allegations of misconduct yourself, consider the above questions.
Instructing a Specialist
We cannot stress enough the importance of having a solicitor regulation specialist by your side throughout an SRA investigation, if it does go ahead. It could be the difference between being able to carry on in your profession or not, depending on the severity of the allegations.
Instructing a solicitor regulation specialist at the earliest opportunity will ensure that any preliminary action is as helpful as possible in stopping the need for further action being taken.