In February 2012, the founder of Lawrisk, Damon Swindell, celebrated 20 years of working with solicitors in private practice, 20 years of helping partners to improve their business by ensuring good things happen and bad things don't! Damon has always been outcomes focussed - not only on outcomes for clients but also on outcomes for partners as the owners and managers of commercial enterprises.
The legal profession has never known such dramatic and fast paced change as experienced in recent years culminating in the full effect of The Legal Services Act taking place on 6th October 2011. Now we talk of Outcomes Focused Regulation. The new SRA Code of Conduct contains no Rules to govern our practices.
Instead, we must decide on the most appropriate behaviours to be adopted in order to achieve the required SRA prescribed outcomes for our clients. We must also build up, and produce to the SRA on demand, a body of evidence that shows we have achieved those outcomes for our clients.
This is a whole new style of regulation and approach by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The profession’s early adopters of quality standards and risk management principles, many advised and trained by Lawrisk, will be well placed for the opportunities and threats that arrive with the Legal Services Act.
In any event, there is much to be done by every law firm in England & Wales. You must be aware of the new SRA Code of Conduct and then decide upon the outcomes that are relevant to your business. You must have policies and procedures in place that ensure you achieve the required outcomes for your clients. Finally, you must be able to produce a body of evidence that confirms you have achieved those outcomes.
Do you have the resources in place to cope with these new obligations? Have you considered the level of: knowledge, people and technology required to achieve compliance? Where ever you are in the planning and execution of your Compliance Plan, help is at hand in the form of advice, training and auditing services. Based on nearly 20 years experience of compliance in the legal profession, a range of flexible services is available to you now from specialists in the legal profession– see our Services page.
Contact us now to find out more.
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