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.
Topics We Cover
Our Practice Compliance Experts
Melanie O'Brien
David Gilmore
Sarah Mumford
Iain Miller
Susanna Heley
Latest Practice Compliance News
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has issued General Licence INT/2025/7628424 under regulation 40 of the Iran (Sanctions)...
The Home Office has published non-binding guidance to help organisations strengthen their supply chain resilience against ransomware threats....
On 20 October 2025, the chair of the UK House of Commons' justice committee wrote a letter to the Ministry of Justice asking a number of pertinent...
The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) has published its Fifth Special Report of Session 2024–25 on forced labour in UK supply chains, prompting a...
Law360, London: The former boss of a luxury perfume group has denied breaching his duties by violating Russian sanctions, saying the company was aware...
Latest Practice Compliance Practice Notes
Information security lifecycleInformation security has become a business-critical issue. It is not something you can tackle in isolation, as there are...
How to manage a personal data breachData security is a cornerstone of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The sixth data protection...
Lexcel practice management standard v6.1—Precedents content mapLexcel is the Law Society’s practice management standard. It is not compulsory,...
Wills and Inheritance Quality Scheme—WIQS—practice management standard—Precedents content mapThe Law Society's Wills and Inheritance Quality Scheme...
Legal Aid Agency SQM—Precedents content mapIf you hold a legal aid contract with the Legal Aid Agency (LAA), you must have the Specialist Quality Mark...
Latest Practice Compliance Precedents
Data protection complaint—progress update letter[Insert complainant’s name][Insert complainant’s contact address]Our ref: [insert complaint reference...
Head of Risk or Risk Manager role profile—law firmsKey informationName of firm[Insert firm name]Name of role holder[Insert name]Reports to[Insert, eg...
Deed of indemnity—compliance officer for legal practice (COLP)This Deed is made on [insert date]Parties1The persons whose names and addresses are set...
Small business GDPR compliance—self-audit1Lawfulness, fairness and transparencyICO expectation and current statusMore informationLexisNexis® tools and...
Data protection complaints policy1We are committed to providing a high-quality service, in accordance with data protection law. At all times, we seek...
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
Disbursements
Any sum spent or to be spent on behalf of a client
Licence conditions
When the Solicitors Regulation Authority grants a Licence to an Alternative Business Structure (ABS), that Licence will be subject to general conditions.
Relevant tax
“relevant tax” means— (a) income tax, (b) capital gains tax, (c) corporation tax, including any amount chargeable as if it were corporation tax or treated as if it were corporation tax, [(ca) apprenticeship levy,] (d) inheritance tax, (e) stamp duty land tax, and (f) annual tax on enveloped dwellings.
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