Ethical compass: Solicitors to face mandatory ethical discussions
A beefed-up continuing competence regime for solicitors, including mandatory record-keeping and discussions about ethics has been laid out by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
It is also planning to take a power that would allow it to direct non-solicitors working in law firms to undertake training activities.
In a consultation paper [1] issued this week, the SRA said that while most solicitors took steps to keep their knowledge and skills and understanding of their professional ethical duties up-to-date, there was evidence – most recently from its 2025 annual assessment [2] of continuing competence – of “shortcomings in how some solicitors do this”.
It explained: “We know that some solicitors cannot demonstrate that their learning and development is a result of regular and meaningful reflection.
“We also know many solicitors focus their learning and development on maintaining technical legal knowledge rather than the wider skills needed to maintain competence. Many have not demonstrated that they have carried out regular learning and development relating to ethics.
“And some have been unaware of, or have not taken account of, relevant warning notices and guidance when identifying their learning needs.”
As a result, the SRA has proposed three significant changes. The first would require solicitors to record their learning and development needs, and how they identified and addressed these – this is only best practice at present.
“Evidence from our monitoring work does not give us assurance that our current approach is universally driving the learning and development behaviours we expect to see,” the consultation said.
Solicitors will have to retain evidence of the learning and development they undertook for a minimum of three years.
Second, the SRA would require all solicitors to take part in a minimum total of three hours of discussions on professional ethics facilitated by a solicitor who has a current practising certificate or is on the roll, and does not have a regulatory or disciplinary record.
“Facilitated group discussion is a form of learning that is used in other sectors and other countries. It builds on Lave and Wenger’s concept of community of practice which emphasises that learning is fundamentally a social process.”
Discussions would have to involve at least three and no more than 12 participants, including the facilitator. Participants could include non-solicitor staff. The facilitator would have to keep records of all participants and share them with the SRA if requested.
“Our objective is to make sure discussions are focused on ethical dilemmas and challenges and that all participants actively engage,” the consultation said.
The move reflects new requirements introduced by the Legal Services Board [3] last month to boost understanding of professional ethics.
The SRA would not prescribe the content or format of the discussions but would instead set out some “overarching objectives”.
“Whilst we would encourage employers to organise sessions for their own staff, we intend to allow sessions to be organised by local law societies or other groups for their members. They could also be run by commercial providers.”
Solicitors would certify that they had met the requirement as part of their declaration when renewing their practising certificate.
Third, the SRA wants to take a power to require some or all solicitors to complete specific learning and development within a specified time “where we identify a competence concern or concern in how competence is maintained”.
This might relate to specific practice areas or role-holders or be profession wide.
“We intend to strengthen and clarify this approach by introducing a rule that enables us to prescribe or specify the learning and development that must be completed by non-authorised persons where we identify a competence concern.”
To give the profession time to adapt, the SRA proposes that the first two changes, if adopted, would come into force in the 2027/28 practising year.