Trust in the professions is essential. We all have to have confidence in core professional standards – standards such as integrity, confidentiality and independence – of those whom we entrust with our health, our finances or our legal issues. The Solicitors Regulation Authority regulates some 160,000 solicitors and the overwhelming majority maintain that all important trust through adhering to the high professional standards we set in the public interest. Of course, when solicitors do fall short of these standards it is our role to step in and take firm action to make sure the public is properly protected. That is part of the fundamental social contract between the public and the regulator, the profession and the regulator and indeed the profession and the public.
The current structure of legal services regulation was established by a Labour government through the Legal Services Act 2007. The legislation was, to a large extent, a response to concerns about whether the public was adequately protected by the now outdated model of self-regulation existing at that time. Some real progress has been made, with operational independence for the front line regulators and measures to meet public need for services by opening up the market, bringing in new business models and investment and encouraging a more diverse profession. Yet the fact nonetheless remains that only one in ten people use a regulated firm when they have a legal problem, despite the fact that a third of people had a legal need in the last three years. Only one out of 10 small businesses think solicitors offer good value for money.
Our breakfast discussion with Progress this week at Labour annual conference looked at what more can be done to ensure professional standards and regulation in the public interest, building confidence and trust and supporting access to law. It was a timely discussion in light of the current Competition and Markets Authority inquiry into the legal services market, and ahead of anticipated proposals from government to fully separate the legal regulators from their representative bodies.
Last year we went out and talked to the profession and public as part of our A Question of Trust campaign. We asked for views what should happen when solicitors get things wrong, using scenarios based on real-life cases.
The results show that we are taking the right things seriously. Things like dishonesty, misuse of client money, or evidence of clear intent to do wrong, are all areas that matter to us, to the public and to the profession. The findings are now being used to refine our approach to judging the seriousness of offences and what action we might take – grounded in the firm evidence of the views of the public and profession.
We are already publishing more information about the firms we regulate. But we want to do more, supporting trust and confidence with key regulatory information, including qualifications and any disciplinary findings or restrictions on practice. And we can improve consumer choice by providing, or encouraging the provision of, information that would be helpful for people to know when choosing a solicitor, such as complaints and claims data.
People want to know that solicitors have met the standards we set when they enter the profession. So we are about to launch the second phase of our proposals to introduce a single assessment – a ‘Solicitors Qualifying Examination’ – that all solicitors will take before we allow them to practise.
Getting professional standards right is fundamental to public protection. High consistent standards means we can reduce detailed rules and unnecessary bureaucracy, lifting the burden from firms and helping to drive an open and competitive market. That should mean lower prices for the public and business users of legal services, increasing access to affordable legal services.
High professional standards set in the public interest, better information and more accessible services – that is a recipe for public trust and professional confidence.
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Crispin Passmore is executive director, policy, at the Solicitors Regulation Authority
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