Much more manageable – Solicitor’s Handbook to be slashed

In the new handbook, solicitors will be given far less pages full of rules, in a code of conduct that will only span ten pages – five for firms and five for individuals.

The revised handbook is due for publication in June, where it will be opened up for consultation by both firms and associated legal institutions.

Executive director of the SRA, Crispin Passmore, has made it clear that the new regulations will be a change in the way that the SRA operates – changing their current ‘prescriptive’ style into a more fluid idea of values and behaviours that solicitors should be sticking to.

One of the more polarizing changes that has been mooted by the regulator is the changing of rules regarding client accounts and third party holding devices.

The SRA has already agreed to some firms using a third party provider, Barco, in order to handle client money on a case by case basis.

Passmore stated that: “Accounts rules should be about how to manage client money rather than how to look after a client account. We have started to say we will allow people to do it in different ways.”

However, the Law Society has refuted this, warning that it will oppose any motion restricting solicitors from holding client funds themselves.

Chief Executive of the Society, Catherine Dixon, made their stance very clear, stating: ‘The Law Society would oppose any attempt to restrict solicitors from holding client money. We have seen no evidence that this is necessary or appropriate.”