Rapson: More engagement
Changes in how solicitors are supervised, taking more time to listen to the profession and reviewing the threshold for action are among the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s priorities for this year, its chief executive declared yesterday.
Sarah Rapson has set out her detailed vision, nearly five months after taking on the role and engaging widely as she took stock of the regulator’s position.
Last month, she pledged a ‘back to basics’ drive that would see the SRA focus on its core responsibilities and move to keeping law firms in compliance without having to take enforcement action.
This is set against the background of sharply rising numbers of complaints about solicitors’ conduct.
Putting flesh on her plans at yesterday’s meeting of the Law Society council, Ms Rapson acknowledged that the SRA has not always met expectations on delivery, citing slow casework, rising reports and a tendency to be too reactive.
As a result, she said, it would be working “at pace” on four priorities: operational excellence, improving collaboration, proactive identification and a focus on big issues.
She identified slow casework and uneven delivery as a key concern. To address operational challenges, she would be expanding the executive team and changing the culture “to ensure SRA colleagues understand their role in identifying and acting swiftly to address risk of harm”.
Alongside this, there will be a comprehensive review of casework process, looking at reviewing the application of the assessment threshold test, making improvements to the quality assurance of triage and investigations, and developing alternatives to full investigation in a new supervision pilot.
Stakeholders have also raised concerns that, at times, the SRA does not understand the challenges of life as a solicitor, Ms Rapson said.
So there will be “significantly more engagement” from her and the senior leadership with the profession, alongside strengthened communications and more transparency about regulatory action and the reasons for it.
Ms Rapson accepted that a common criticism has been a reactive approach to addressing risks; with the significant rise in reports of misconduct, the current approach was “unsustainable”.
In response, as previously reported, the SRA will roll out its law firm profiler tool across the organisation, giving staff a “single, coherent view” of each practice it regulates.
It also launching new rapid risk and strategic risk assessments, as well as an intensive supervision pilot to find new tools and techniques to reduce harm.
The focus on big issues meant high-volume consumer claims in particular. The SRA is piloting a supervision taskforce to look at innovative approaches to firms handling these claims, and will publish updated guidance on good practice and its expectations of firms in their use of litigation funding and after-the-event insurance.
Ms Rapson said: “We are in a challenging environment. There is a lot of change in the sector, the organisation has had its issues and is facing growing pressures. There is a lot of work to be done, and we want to deliver improvements at pace. The explicit focus is on getting the basics of good regulation right.
“Fundamentally, we need to be trusted to do our job and to have an impact. We know we need to work hard to rebuild that. Trust is the benchmark for our success.
“This is about fixing the foundations so we can build a regulator that is fit for the future. It will not be easy, but the direction is clear – a modern, proportionate regulator that is trusted and effective.”
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