The SRA has emphasised that compliance with the Sanctions regime applies to all businesses, irrespective of whether they fall within AML scope. They have issued fresh guidance about this. Here is the link: https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/guidance/sanctions-regime-firm-wide-risk-assessments/ At last year's COLP & COFA Conference the SRA gave notice that they would be starting to carry out compliance audits […]
We thought it might be helpful to bring together several themes and pieces of clarification from the SRA into one article. QWE Firstly, can Immigration work count as QWE? As always it depends upon whether the work done meets the definition of QWE: ‘the provision of legal services’. However, in most cases we have found […]
We have obtained clarification from the SRA on what evidence they would accept of the supervisor's qualification when considering an application for exemption from the SQE2 exam. Generally, it is only those who are already qualified as a lawyer in a jurisdiction who may apply for an exemption from the SQE2 exam. If you are […]
We have spotted that SRA have added in some new requirements for the content of the Letter of Reference from your supervisor. The new things are: To list ‘total hours worked per week’ and Referees must have read the aspiring solicitor’s application and reviewed all (any relevant) supporting evidence before confirming your experience and stating […]
The UK Government has announced the opening of a tender for Civil Legal Aid Contracts. Tenders must be submitted using the LAA’s eTendering system and must be submitted by 5pm on Monday 22 April 2024. Here is the link to make the submission: https://legalaid.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.shtml The contract will run for 12 months from 1 September 2024 […]
We are accredited LEAP Implementation Consultants. We have implemented LEAP into over 700 firms since starting to work with them in 2015. We also provide training to many firms outside of the implementation. Ingemar, who leads on this, is a solicitor, was an equity partner & department head. HCL assist with a lot of compliance. […]
One of our clients has received a letter of a review with 2 weeks notice. The link below is to a letter they received from the SRA giving them notice of the review & setting out what will happen, the agenda for the review and what they will be reviewing. It includes all relevant policy […]
The SRA has created a useful tool for finding the closest Pearson Vue Centre to you. The link to the SR page is below. One simply types in the same of the country or city in the box and it will show you a map. Annoyingly, you have to run the tool from the SRA […]
The SRA has upgraded the web page so that you may search on the jurisdiction in which you are qualified. There is then a drop down which summarises the SRA position. Here is a link to the web page: https://www.sra.org.uk/become-solicitor/qualified-lawyers/sqe-exemptions/ For example, if you search on Ukraine it will tell you what the situation is […]
We have launched this subscription service to help firms stay compliant in this fast moving area. This holds the policies & procedures out from the main OPM, should you want to keep them separate. It works as a subscription service so we may issue updates to take into accounts changes in the rules, regulations and […]
