18 September 2010Print This Post

SIFA

SIFA (Solicitors Independent Financial Advice) provides regulatory and business development support to solicitors who wish to embrace financial services as part of their client offering. We believe that in many areas of practice, legal and financial matters go hand-in-hand and that involvement in financial services enables solicitors to reduce their reliance on transactional business and to develop on-going client relationships which will enable them to regain the pivotal role of trusted adviser in the post-Legal Services Act world.

Many firms wish to move on from arms-length client referral relationships in order to maximise the synergy between legal and financial services, and the SIFA/DWF documentation kit for joint ventures is fast becoming the template model. In addition, our ex-Law Society Directors provide consultancy support in relation to ABS and the compliance requirements of Outcomes Focused Regulation.

For firms seeking to identify financial advisers who provide impartial advice, free from the influence of the providers of financial products, we have established the SIFA Directory of Professional Financial Advisers, which is endorsed by the Law Society.  This enables solicitors to search by reference to location and those business specialisations which dovetail with solicitors’ own work, notably trusts and estates, older client matters, relationship breakdown and personal injury and Court of Protection work.

The Directory site www.sifa-directory.info also contains:

  • Our complimentary compliance bulletins, Bushell’s Briefs ((by Stuart Bushell, previously Director of Legal Services Act transition at the Law Society)
  • Our regular articles in Solicitors’ Journal, Law Society publications and elsewhere
  • Our SRA CPD-accredited webcasts and conferences
  • Guidance on business structures
  • Technical handbooks and client newsletters and marketing material
  • Our telephone and e-mail helplines

For further information please contact Ian Muirhead (ian@sifa.co.uk – 01372 721172) or Stuart Bushell (stuart@sifa.co.uk – 07815 840078).