SRA: “too many” COLP and COFA nominees failing to disclose suitability issues


Barrass: damaging consequences for the entire profession

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has received “too many” compliance officer nominations where the individuals concerned have failed to disclose serious disciplinary issues that make them unsuitable for the role, while warning that hundreds of firms will start 2013 without their COLPs and COFAs in place

Speaking in London yesterday, SRA executive director Samantha Barrass cited one case where the nominated individual failed to disclose 22 matters against them, while in another, a solicitor did not mention two separate Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal appearances, for which he was fined, and a separate reprimand for failing to disclose ongoing disciplinary proceedings to a Law Society panel.

Ms Barrass said these failures “could potentially have damaging consequences for the entire profession… it is simply not acceptable for individuals to deny the presence of a disciplinary history or other relevant suitability issues when explicitly asked to do so by the SRA”.

She said: “The success of outcomes-focused regulation is reliant on us being able to trust firms to deliver competent and ethical legal services. COLPs [compliance officers for legal practice] and COFAs [compliance officers for finance and administration] are being appointed to act as ‘guardians’ for managing risks to their business. It is essential that those appointed to fulfil these roles are trustworthy and competent to do this.

“How can we have confidence where there is a failure to co-operate with us in the nomination process and explicit non-disclosure of serious suitability issues?”

Ms Barrass in fact expressed surprise that as many as 90% of firms met the 31 July nomination deadline – “given the historic experience we have had, where firms have sometimes been slow in fulfilling their regulatory obligations, we had feared this initial figure might be a lot lower” – but predicted that “several hundred law firms”, mainly of four or fewer partners, would start 2013 without compliance officers in place.

She said: “Not having one in place by 1 January will mean we will begin the process of revoking authorisation. The only exceptions will be those cases where constructive engagement is under way with the firm concerned such that we are confident we will be able to approve a COLP and/or COFA in short order. Moreover, nor will we ignore the non-compliance that became evident through the nomination process.”

However, she said the priority until the end of the year is to get as many compliance officers as possible in place. “We have a large team of staff dedicated to supporting this process. We are calling firms who have not nominated, and asking firms likely to have their nominations declined, to put forward an alternative individual.”

Ms Barrass said these problems have also meant it has taken the SRA longer than expected to approve nominations. “If we haven’t yet contacted you and your nomination was submitted before 31 July, you can safely take the view that ‘no news is good news’. You will certainly receive your approval before 31 December.”

 

Tags:




Leave a Comment

By clicking Submit you consent to Legal Futures storing your personal data and confirm you have read our Privacy Policy and section 5 of our Terms & Conditions which deals with user-generated content. All comments will be moderated before posting.

Required fields are marked *
Email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Blog


GEO – the impact of AI on digital marketing for law firms

GEO represents the biggest change in online business generation that I can remember. You cannot afford to stick with the same old engine optimisation techniques.


What the law can learn from fintech’s onboarding revolution

Client onboarding has always been slow. It’s not just about the paperwork and manual workflows; it’s also about those long AML checks and verifications.


Civil enforcement – progress at last with CJC report

‘When do I get my money?’ is a question that litigators acting for successful parties are used to fielding. The value of judgments is of course in the recovery made.


Loading animation