SRA pledges pivot from enforcement-led culture
Britain’s Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) will shift its regulatory philosophy, moving away from a "punish-first" mentality toward a model centred on firm support and compliance guidance.
Sarah Rapson, who took over as chief executive of the SRA in November, told a Law Society’s risk and compliance conference in London (11 March) that the regulator must adapt to a landscape where report numbers are rocketing.
Addressing an audience of hundreds of legal professionals, Rapson admitted that the organisation has historically been too quick to reach for the "stick" of investigation.
"We are pretty enforcement-led," Rapson conceded.
"We reach for investigation and enforcement quite quickly because instinctively we don’t go for other tools. I am really keen to test whether we as a regulator could do more to support people to be able to comply."
Disciplinary cases
The SRA has faced intense scrutiny over its handling of high-profile firm collapses and a backlog of disciplinary cases.
The legal sector in England and Wales can expect to feel the impact of this strategy over the next 12 months.
The SRA is expected to roll out new guidance, digital compliance tools, and more collaborative engagement methods, marking the most significant change in the regulator's operational culture in a decade.