The Law Society has repeated its criticism of plans for the Solicitors Regulation Authority to regulate legal executives on the eve of a crucial decision. At a virtual meeting today, the SRA board will decide whether to proceed with proposals for it to regulate authorised and non-authorised members of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX).
The proposal has attracted criticism from individual legal executives as well as the existing regulator, CILEx Regulation Limited (CRL) and the Law Society.
In a statement yesterday, Law Society chief executive Ian Jeffery said he expected the SRA board to listen to the widespread opposition and opt not to proceed with the plan. ‘The SRA must seriously consider whether the time, resources and management focus required to integrate CILEX regulation into the SRA is wise, given the other priorities the SRA faces in light of the collapses of Axiom Ince, Metamorph, Kingly and the SSB Group,’ Jeffery said. ‘Now is not the right time for the SRA to seek to widen its regulatory scope or take on additional responsibilities.’
The SRA has failed to make the case for any positive consumer impacts from the takeover, Jeffery said. ‘Any change would negatively impact on consumers’ ability to clearly understand the legal choices available to them and to choose the right legal provider, especially where their legal needs are complex. In common with CILEX members, we remain of the view that the regulation of CILEX members is best managed under the current bespoke arrangements with CRL.’
Representative body CILEX announced the plan to switch regulator last year. At the time it said SRA regulation will provide ‘steady-state regulation of CILEX lawyers at a cost similar to, and potentially lower than, the current practising certificate fee without any cross-subsidy between solicitors and CILEX lawyers and with the additional benefits of increased levels of consumer protection, the ability to respond to new regulatory demands and the profile of the SRA brand’.
