The changes mean the SRA can now fine law firms and individual solicitors for a broader range of offences – from lower-level cases involving inadequate staff training to those with more serious consequences including failure to implement the appropriate checks required to uncover signs of money laundering by clients.

Previously, disciplinary matters requiring fines over £2,000 would be referred to the independent Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT).

Given nearly 90 per cent of fines currently issued by the tribunal are under £25,000, these reforms will allow them to focus on fewer, more significant allegations, like firms working for sanctioned Russian oligarchs and businesses.

Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Dominic Raab said:

The UK can be proud of our world-leading legal services. But it is essential the sector retains its international reputation for the highest standards of probity.

That’s why we are allowing swifter and firmer action to be taken against those who break the codes of conduct. And we’re freeing up the solicitors’ disciplinary tribunal to focus on the most serious breaches, such as those involving Russian sanctions.

The increased powers will reduce the number of cases referred to the SDT, shortening the average time taken for cases to be resolved.

Anna Bradley, Chair of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, said:

The overwhelming majority of solicitors meet the standards we all expect, but when they don’t, we step in to protect the public and maintain confidence in the profession.

There was strong public support for increasing our fining powers when we consulted last year and this change will mean we can resolve issues more quickly, saving time and cost for everyone. It will reduce stress and allow more focus on the most complex and challenging or serious cases.

The SRA investigates almost 2,000 cases annually and handed out over 250 fines in the last year, which is only set to increase as the changes take effect. They will continue to refer firms and solicitors to the tribunal in the most serious cases.

Notes to editors

• Between 2014-2021, around 90 per cent of fines levied by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal were under £25,000.
• Example of a recent case handled by the tribunal that would now be handled by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under new measures:
  • In January 2022, the Tribunal fined a solicitor £25,000 for failing to follow the appropriate processes to guard against the risk of money laundering.
  • This included failing to carry out appropriate checks on his client, and improper use of his firm’s client account as a banking facility allowing payments of around €300,000 to be made into and out of the firm’s account.
  • The solicitor admitted all the allegations in full.

First of all it’s absolutely imperative that we secure Russia’s defeat in Ukraine. And it’s imperative for the sake of European security, freedom and democracy, and it’s the only way that we are going to achieve a lasting peace in Europe.

There are some who are saying that there could be some possibility of negotiations now whilst Russia is still in Ukraine, but I think that would bring a false peace and it would lead to further aggression in the future.

We have to learn the lessons of the past, the failures of the Minsk protocol for example, in being able to secure a lasting peace in the area. So my very strong message is we have to defeat Russia first, and negotiate later.

And I completely agree with the Australian Prime Minister that we need to think very carefully about the messages we’re sending to President Xi.

We’ve seen increased collaboration between Russia and China and we know that China is watching Ukraine closely. They’re expanding their military capability and they’re extending their global influence.

One significant thing today is that we will see in the new strategic concept put out by NATO specific reference to China. Because it isn’t just an issue for the Indo Pacific region, it’s also an issue for Euro Atlantic security.

I do think that with China extending its influence through economic coercion and building a capable military there is a real risk that they draw the wrong idea which results in a catastrophic miscalculation such as invading Taiwan.

That is exactly what we saw in the case of Ukraine, a strategic miscalculation by Putin, so this is why it’s so important that the free world work together to help ensure that Taiwan is able to defend itself and to stress the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

What we’re doing is making sure that Taiwan has meaningful participation in international organisations but also working to strengthen our economic ties with Taiwan, because this isn’t just about hard security, it’s also about economic security.

I think the lesson we’ve learnt also from the Ukraine crisis is the increased dependency of Europe on Russian oil and gas contributed to a sense in which Russia felt enabled to invade Ukraine because they knew it would be very difficult for Europe to respond.

So we also need to learn that lesson, I believe, with China of not becoming strategically dependent on China and in fact making sure we have strong alternatives. And not just that the free world has strong alternatives but also allies such as the Pacific Islands that the Prime Minister was talking about, allies in South East Asia, allies in Africa and the Caribbean, also have alternatives to China’s economic investment.

People will have seen at the G7 the announcement of $600bn worth of investment through the Global Partnership for Infrastructure Investment Programme and I think that’s a very important alternative to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. So I think there were huge lessons we can learn, and we need to learn them as soon as possible.

ENDS