About Practice Compliance
Every law firm has a legal duty to comply with the SRA Handbook and a raft of other legislation and regulations. Get it wrong and you personally face investigation, disciplinary action, fines and prosecution (not to mention the damage to your reputation).
GDPR compliance
Practical guidance tools, registers, training aids and other templates to help you comply with data protection law and manage privacy risks
SRA Handbook
Every law firm has a legal duty to comply with the SRA Handbook and a raft of other legislation and regulations. Get it wrong and you personally face investigation, disciplinary action, fines and prosecution.
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Our Practice Compliance Experts
Melanie O'Brien
David Gilmore
Sarah Mumford
Iain Miller
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Latest Practice Compliance News
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has imposed a monetary penalty of £4,732,830.58 on Citibank, N.A., London Branch (CBNA London)...
HM Treasury (HMT) has announced its intention to double the maximum fine available to the Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) from...
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has announced that a confidential out-of-court settlement has been reached between Eurasian Natural Resources...
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has launched a consultation on draft guidance on the use of anonymisation and pseudonymisation for...
The National Crime Agency (NCA) and National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) have issued Flash Alert 0808-NECC on A7, a sanctions evasion network...
Latest Practice Compliance Practice Notes
This Practice Note is intended for law firms. It covers some frequently asked questions in relation to politically exposed persons (PEPs) under the...
Sanctions are intended to have a serious effect on the individuals, organisations and regimes they target. There is therefore a corresponding risk...
This Practice Note provides an introduction to the international sanctions regimes. It explains what sanctions are, the difference between financial...
In recent years, there have been growing calls for the government to legislate further on economic crime in order to discourage criminals from...
The Bribery Act 2010 (BA 2010) was passed to ensure the UK’s compliance with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD)...
Latest Practice Compliance Precedents
Date: [insert date]IntroductionOne of the key requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) is for certain organisations to...
A: General information Date of review[insert date]Person(s) conducting review[insert name(s) and/or role(s)]B: Review and findingsIs your Data...
1Introduction1.1Fraud is a major issue affecting individuals and businesses in every country and in every sector.1.2Fraud can be incredibly damaging....
1Introduction1.1This policy sets out the responsibility of employees and management in relation to the investigation of fraud, bribery, facilitation...
Standard DBA (employment tribunal)We have discussed various options for funding your costs, including:•legal expense insurance, eg under your house or...
Latest Practice Compliance Q&As
Featured Practice Compliance content
What is a solicitor's undertaking?
What is a solicitor's undertaking?An undertaking is a commitment by a solicitor to do something. It can be enforced against the solicitor by the...
In what circumstances might a solicitor be able to contact another lawyer's client directly?
SRA Codes of Conduct for individuals and firms
SRA Code of Conduct for individuals and firmsThis Practice Note provides guidance on the SRA Codes of Conduct, contained in the SRA Standards and...
Acting for yourself, friends and family
Acting for yourself, friends and familyThis Practice Note covers considerations where a law firm wishes to act for one of its own partners or...
Undertakings and the court
Undertakings and the courtThis Practice Note explains:•what powers the court has to enforce undertakings•when it is likely to exercise those...
Duties of confidentiality and disclosure
Duties of confidentiality and disclosure 2019The protection of confidential information is a fundamental feature of the solicitor-client relationship...
What is a legal entity identifier (LEI) and does my law firm need one?
Working with foreign lawyers—the registered foreign lawyer (RFL) regime
Working with foreign lawyers—the Registered Foreign Lawyer (RFL) regimeThe Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) operates a registration regime for...
Solicitors Regulation Authority
Solicitors Regulation AuthorityThe Solicitors Regulation authority (SRA) is the independent regulatory arm of the Law Society. It...
When and how can I terminate my retainer?
Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) practice management standards—Precedents content map
Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) practice management standards—Precedents content mapThe Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) is a quality...
Client care letter—law firms
Client care letter—law firmsDear [Insert client’s name][Insert heading, eg matter description]Thank you for your instructions to act on your behalf in...
Conflicts of interest—law firms and solicitors
Conflicts of interest 2019Conflicts of interest can cause difficult and serious problems for solicitors and law firms, both from a compliance point of...
If an email is sent to you in error by an opposing party’s solicitor, what obligations does one have to notify the client of its contents? If there is no duty to disclose the contents to the client, is there a duty to let them know that the email has been received but deleted?
SRA Accounts Rules—law firms
SRA Accounts Rules 2019This Practice Note sets out the requirements of the SRA Accounts rules 2019 (the 2019 Rules), in force from 25 November 2019,...
Who owns the matter file—law firms?
Risk management—key risks—law firms
Risk management—key risks—law firmsEffective risk management is fundamental to the commercial success of law firms. To manage risk effectively you...
How to close a client matter—law firms
Closing a client matter—law firmsClosing a client matter properly is a basic client care, risk management and housekeeping requirement. There are also...
Associated legal terms
Indicative behaviours
These are in the SRA Code of Conduct and are examples of the type of behaviour which will either demonstrate compliance with, or breach of, the outcomes.
Issue of shares
(a) references (however expressed) to an issue of shares in any company are to such of the shares in the company as are of the same class and issued on the same day, and (b) references (however expressed) to an issue of shares in any company to an individual are to such of the shares in the company as are of the same class and are issued to the individual in one capacity on the same day.
New qualifying trade
For the purposes of this Part a qualifying trade carried on by the issuing company or a qualifying 90% subsidiary of that company (“the relevant company”) is a “new qualifying trade” if (and only if)— (a) the trade does not begin to be carried on (whether by the relevant company or any other person) before the two year pre-investment period, and (b) at no time before the relevant company begins to carry on the trade was any other trade being carried on by the issuing company or by any company that was a 51% subsidiary of the issuing company at the time in question.
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