The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has been told to leave employment issues such as bullying, harassment, discrimination and sexual misconduct to law firms and the courts.
Birmingham Law Society urged the regulator “to do less and do it better”, including stronger triaging of reports to ensure that “spurious or vexatious complaints are dismissed at an early stage”.
Cary Whitmarsh, chair of its professional regulation committee, said: “The committee is firmly of the view that that the SRA should do less and do it better by focusing resources on the areas of greatest risk to consumers and to the rule of law, rather than expanding into areas outside its core remit.”
Birmingham Law Society is the country’s largest local law society, with 9,000 members, and the letter to SRA chief executive Sarah Rapson follows the vision for the future that she set out last month.
She highlighted four priorities: operational excellence, improving collaboration, proactive identification of risk, and a focus on big issues.
Mr Whitmarsh, head of compliance at Trowers & Hamlin, acknowledged the “significant” challenge ahead for the regulator, including the need to address the perception that the SRA was “a draconian organisation lacking understanding or empathy for hard working legal professionals”.
Backing the focus on the big issues, the committee agreed with Ms Rapson that the SRA’s assessment threshold test needed to be reviewed.
“We think that the SRA does not do enough to triage...
Singer and actor Kim Min-jong has warned of a strong response, calling MC Mong's allegations "false information." OKims Law Firm, Kim Min-jong's legal representative, issued an official statement ...