Welcome to the compliance update for October 2024. This briefing will cover important regulatory developments from the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Legal Services Board. These updates are critical for keeping your firm compliant with evolving standards in areas such as training, transparency, complaints management, and anti-money laundering. Let's explore the key areas of focus for the year ahead and what they mean for your practice. First, let's look at training record reviews. Over the coming year, the SRA will be contacting firms to review their training records as part of their ongoing work on maintaining competence post qualification. While much of their recent focus has been on the solicitor's qualifying examination. The SRA is now pushing for greater oversight in the development and learning of practicing solicitors. For 2024 and 2025, the SRA will be particularly focused on standards in landlord and tenant law, family law, and asylum law. However, it's worth noting that their call for training and development plans may extend beyond these areas in the near future. The SRA also encourages firms to ensure their training and development plans include spaces for reflection on progress and future steps based on this reflection. If you're looking for guidance, Datala's autumn update offers an example learning and development plan featuring these key elements. Now moving on to transparency rules. In 2024 and 2025, the SRA will be reviewing these rules to make them more consumer friendly. One concern they've identified is that pricing information may not be as clear to consumers as it should be. To address this, the SRA is developing clearer arrangements for displaying prices and will offer more detailed guidance on what needs to be shown. As a result, firms should be prepared to update their website text next year in response to this review, ensuring they remain compliant with any changes. Next, let's discuss complaints management. The Legal Services Board LSB, the SRA's oversight regulator, has recently issued statutory guidance regarding complaints handling in the legal sector. This guidance outlines expectations for what regulators should include in their rules and how they should act upon complaints. Based on this, we can expect the SRA to place greater emphasis on first tier complaint handling. Particular scrutiny may fall on firms that report high numbers of complaints in their annual renewal, or those that refer cases prematurely to the legal ombudsman. This could signal that firms are failing to handle complaints effectively at the initial stage. To avoid regulatory action, firms are advised to focus on minimizing complaints and addressing those that arise early on. For further assistance on managing complaints, Data laws webinar complaint responses offers valuable insights and sample responses for dealing with first-tier complaints. Now let's turn to anti-money laundering. The Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision, the oversight regulator for AML, has recently reviewed the SRA's performance along with other legal regulators. Several key areas were highlighted during this review. A recommendation for increased scrutiny of conveyancing firms due to the high AML risks they present. Concerns about risks posed by trust and company service providers. A suggestion that fines collected under the SRA's new unlimited finding powers for AML breaches should be ring-fenced for further AML work. The SRA is likely to increase its focus on these areas in the coming year, paying particular attention to conveyancing firms, company trust services, and how AML fines are managed. There has been notable opposition from the Law Society regarding these new unlimited fining powers with concerns that they may push firms into bankruptcy over unintentional mistakes. To help your firm navigate AML regulations, data law offers a range of webinars, including anti-money laundering legislation update, client matter risk assessments, banking facilities, and MLLO and MLCO roles and responsibilities. As we look ahead to 2024 and 2025, it's clear that significant changes are on the horizon in the areas of training, transparency, complaints handling, and AML compliance. Staying informed about these regulatory updates and making the necessary adjustments will be essential to keeping your firm.
February 2024 Webinar
January 2024 Newsletter
13276 Users
1363 Courses
938 Reviews