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
This week's edition of Practice Compliance weekly highlights includes OTSI's first annual report, new sanctions imposed on Russia’s GRU following the...
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has updated its main Subject Access Request (SAR) guidance following the Data (Use and Access) Act, 2025...
Law360, Expert analysis: The recent explosion in artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in the workplace has led to the creation of whole new...
Law360, London: On 8 December, costs lawyers said that they predict a rise in the number of costs disputes after the ruling known as Mazur, which...
Law360, London: Corrupt lawyers, accountants and bankers 'will be hunted down' under a new anti-corruption strategy unveiled by the government on 8...
Latest Practice Compliance Practice Notes
Licences and exemptions in financial sanctionsThe UK’s domestic sanctions framework is governed by the Sanctions and Anti-money Laundering Act 2018...
Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022—an introductionIn recent years, there have been growing calls for the government to legislate...
Licences and exceptions in trade sanctionsTrade sanctions are controls on the:•import, export, transfer, movement, making available and acquisition of...
Sanctions regime—global human rightsForthcoming change: the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and HM Treasury have confirmed the...
The UK sanctions framework under SAMLA 2018 This Practice Note explains the UK financial sanctions and trade sanctions regime under the Sanctions and...
Latest Practice Compliance Precedents
Register of AML, CTF and counter-proliferation financing policies, plans and proceduresThis Precedent Register of AML, CTF and counter-proliferation...
Website content approval formTitle of content[Insert title of content]Content type[Insert content type]Author[Insert name of author]Department[Insert...
Meeting minutes—review of complaints dataDate of meetingPersons in attendance[Insert date][Insert details including name(s) and role(s)]1Documents...
Internal complaints handling procedure—law firms1Introduction1.1We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service. We acknowledge that we may...
Quarterly COLP compliance board report1General informationDate of this report[insert date]Date of last report[insert date]Name of person submitting...
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
Governance arrangements
The arrangements that the managers of a firm must implement to ensure that there is compliance with the SRA Handbook.
Legal disciplinary practice
A Legal disciplinary practice is a type of firm owned and run by lawyers and up to 25% non lawyers.
Solicitor
A lawyer who is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
CONTACT US
