The competitive wind has changed in the solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance market, while regulatory changes and the ground-rent scandal could spell trouble for lawyers.

The Linklaters v Mellish case has brought the issue of how law firms deal with sexual harassment, and how the courts deal with confidentiality, back into the spotlight.

Delaying the new SRA’s Standards & Regulations impacts on consumers as much as it does solicitors. If a key reasons for change is to widen choice and improve access to justice, then delay must be prejudicial. 

Since the 1981 Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations were introduced, providing physical first aid support has been a mandatory requirement for all workplaces of any size. But not mental health support.

This year offers unprecedented opportunities consequent on regulatory reform. The SRA’s new Standards & Regulations offers enormous opportunities to any solicitor or law firm that wants to think differently.