Criminal law: More competence-related reports
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is to consult on strengthening continuing competence requirements as it was not clear whether solicitors are reflecting properly on their practices.
The consultation will have “a particular focus on reflection and maintaining professional ethics obligations”.
The regulator said it was “unclear” from most of the evidence it had obtained – through thematic reviews and reviewing training records – whether solicitors were undertaking “meaningful reflection on all aspects of their practice”.
There was evidence to suggest that “some” solicitors regularly reflected on their practices, identifying training needs with reference to the regulator’s competence statement, while others were “regularly reflecting on their professional and ethical obligations”.
Almost all the training records it had recently reviewed demonstrated that solicitors had completed “at least one learning and development activity” to maintain competence.
“However, it was unclear from most of the evidence whether the learning and development activities had been informed by meaningful reflection on all aspects of their practice, as is required.
“A significant proportion of evidence provided simply listed the learning and development activity carried out and the date it was completed. This does not provide us with appropriate assurance that solicitors are taking steps needed to fully reflect on their practice.
“There was limited evidence to suggest that solicitors were regularly carrying out learning and development to keep their understanding of their ethical and professional obligations up-to-date.”
Solicitors must declare every year when they renew their practising certificates that they are up-to-date with all legal, ethical, and regulatory obligations relevant to their role, that they have reflected on their practice and addressed any identified learning and development needs and that they are competent to perform their role.
In its third annual assessment of continuing competence, the SRA said it had identified 16 solicitors from the 2024 PC renewals who “did not confirm they had met the requirements of the declaration”.
As a result, it imposed conditions to restrict the practice of 10 of them.
Over the last 12 months, the regulator also assessed 78 reports of competence concerns that did not meet the threshold for enforcement but the firms involved were required to either make a declaration that they had taken steps to address the issue or that the firm’s managers and employees involved in delivering the work had “the required professional knowledge and skills” to carry out their roles.
The SRA received 12,046 reports about solicitors in 2024 and, compared to the previous year, fewer related to conveyancing and commercial law.
But there was a 28% increase in competence-related reports relating to criminal law, including inadequate case preparation and failures to explain legal processes or outcomes clearly, such as the consequences of pleading guilty.
Others included failure to identify clients’ mental health conditions, learning disabilities “or those who were otherwise vulnerable”, while a small number of reports also referred to solicitors giving incorrect legal advice.
There were 25% more reports from clients relating to non-family civil matters, including advice that was “unclear or not tailored to their situation”, inadequate representation in court and “procedural failures including inadequate case preparation and failure to comply with court directions”.
The SRA said that it would respond by delivering a “package of work” to understand if criminal and civil law solicitors were taking the right steps to keep their knowledge, skills and understanding up-to-date, which would involve reviewing a sample of their training records.
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