Reporting to the SRA

The SRA is a regulator, not a compensation ombudsman.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority regulates solicitors and law firms in England and Wales. It investigates regulatory concerns that may indicate breaches of its Standards and Regulations or risks to clients, the public or the administration of justice. It is not a substitute for the firm’s complaint procedure, the Legal Ombudsman, a costs assessment or a civil claim.

If your complaint is mainly that the solicitor was slow, communicated poorly, failed to follow instructions or charged for poor service, make the service complaint to the provider and preserve the Legal Ombudsman route. If the same facts also indicate a serious professional-conduct issue - such as dishonesty, misuse of client money, misleading conduct, a serious conflict or other regulatory risk - an SRA report may be appropriate as a separate route.

Use the SRA’s own threshold as a discipline.

The SRA’s published Assessment Threshold asks, in substance, whether there may have been a breach, whether the breach is sufficiently serious to justify regulatory action, and whether it is capable of proof. That is a useful way to structure a report. A disagreement with litigation tactics or an unfavourable outcome is not automatically evidence of misconduct.

Conflicts of interest need to be evidenced, not asserted.

A conflict allegation should identify the duties or interests said to conflict, the clients/matters involved, the relevant timing, and the act or decision affected. If confidential material appears to have crossed between matters, identify the exact document, where it originated, where it appeared and why that matters. Do not rely on labels such as “obvious conflict” without setting out the underlying facts.

SRA and Legal Ombudsman can both be relevant.

The Legal Ombudsman deals with individual complaints about legal service and can provide redress within the types of complaint it can deal with. The SRA deals with regulatory conduct. A single chronology may contain both service and conduct issues, but the submissions should be tailored to each body. Do not wait for an SRA regulatory outcome if that would put a Legal Ombudsman referral deadline at risk.

What the SRA cannot normally do for you.

• It does not act as your solicitor or give you legal advice.
• It is not generally the route for obtaining compensation for poor service.
• It does not overturn a court judgment or decide the underlying lawsuit for you.
• It may decide that a matter does not meet its regulatory threshold even where you have a separate viable service complaint or civil claim.

Evidence that makes a regulatory report easier to assess.

• Engagement/retainer documents and relevant terms.
• The exact correspondence or filing relied upon.
• Conflict checks or conflict-related correspondence if available.
• A focused chronology.
• The provider’s complaint response where relevant.
• Court orders/judgments where they establish context.
• A short allegation-to-evidence schedule rather than a large unindexed bundle.