Solicitors now live in a world of compliance. Every manager of a solicitors’ practice, and every COLP and COFA needs to know what to do, and what to expect if, the firm is faced with a breach of the professional rules.

This webinar gives managers, COLPs and COFAs advice on the steps to take if a breach occurs and a practical guide to the SRA’s actions on serious breaches which require disciplinary proceedings.

It also covers the new reporting rules which will be introduced in November 2019, the SRA’s new enforcement strategy and the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal’s (SDT) new procedural rules including the change to the standard of proof in disciplinary proceedings.

This webinar will cover:

  • changes to the rules on reporting misconduct to the SRA (SRA Regulatory Arrangements (Reporting Concerns) (Amendment) Rules 2019)
  • how the SRA decides whether to take enforcement action,
  • the SRA’s 2019 enforcement strategy
  • what to expect if the SRA investigates a firm or its managers
  • how the SRA decides whether to refer breaches to the SDT
  • an overview of SDT proceedings
  • the new Solicitors (Disciplinary Proceedings) Rules 2019 and the change to the standard of proof

Speakers

Nigel West, partner and head of department, RadcliffesLeBrasseur

Nigel West is a partner in RadcliffesLeBrasseur, where he heads the Solicitor’s Disciplinary Team. He has defended solicitors facing SRA investigations and Solicitors disciplinary proceedings for over twenty years.

Nigel is named as a leading individual for professional discipline by Legal 500. He is a co-author of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal: law and practice (Law Society 2015), a co-author of the Solicitors Handbook 2019 and the cases editor for the Law Society’s Legal Compliance Bulletin. He is a committee member of the Solicitors Assistance Scheme, a member of the Law Society’s Regulatory Processes Committee and a sitting member of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal User Group.

Robert Forman, senior consultant solicitor, Murdochs Professional Discipline Solicitors

Robert is an experienced professional discipline solicitor, with particular expertise in the field of solicitors’ professional discipline and regulation. He handles a range of disciplinary investigations for law firms and lawyers alike and frequently appears before the SDT. He has experience of training COLPs and COFAs providing advanced level seminars on regulation, professional discipline and professional indemnity Insurance.

Robert has sat on the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal’s Users Group and was appointed by the SRA as external adviser to the SRA Compensation Arrangements Review 2012-2014 to give insight from a defence practitioner’s perspective. He is a member of the Lawyers Defence Group, the Solicitors Assistance Scheme and the Association of Regulatory & Disciplinary Lawyers.

This webinar is discounted by 20% for Risk and Compliance Service members.