Part 1: Professional practice Professional practice as a concept Historical development for solicitors Annual practising year Embodiment in practising certificate Technical content (including discussion of legislative and regulatory basis): Introduction to current legal services regulation and duties to the regulator (SRA) Current regulatory position Historical legislative and regulatory development (dating back to 1900s) Discursive content (including ideas for implementation or discussion in a firm): Individual expression as a form of practice Ethics and reporting The concept of the reasonable man Conducting your own investigation Checks and balances in legal regulation Comparative standards of regulation (including overseas) Comparative professional practice for others (accountants, management consultants, medical professionals) Part 2. Practising arrangements Technical content (including legislative and regulatory basis): The practising year, practice events, and individual practice Practising certificates (First issue, renewal, suspension, revocation, holding over) Firm recognition Reserved work Non reserved work Available practising arrangements (traditional practice, RELs, RFLs, freelancers, ABS, employing solicitors) Discursive content (including ideas for implementation or discussion in a firm): The practising year, and timelines for management of individual issues Options outside regulation, or with alternative regulators National and international implications Differences in regulatory outcomes and prosecution standards for the various forms of practice Ideas for firm strategic management and individual career development based on various forms of practice Organisational structure What does the practising year mean to you? Non reporting relationships with regulators Accountant reporting and the practising year Managing renewal Closing down Part 3. Practising Certificate conditions Technical content (including legislative and regulatory basis): Imposition of conditions Suspension Criminal charges Dishonesty Risk management Public interest test Common conditions Discursive content (including ideas for implementation or discussion in a firm): Achieving a balance in risk management The test for dishonesty and the reporting standard Managing others with conditions: COLP, COFA or HR? Do conditions work? Representations for conditions and risk management SDT outcomes and SRA outcomes Regulators and regulatory decision making Restriction or more practice? Addressing personal development needs Confidentiality, public confidence, and publication in an age of digital information Improving compliance through management Part 4. Serious breach Technical content (including legislative and regulatory basis): Reporting requirements (individual, firm, overseas) Reporting requirements for reporting accountants Other reporting and regulatory requirements Seeking advice SDT and the standard of proof Regulatory outcomes Firm implications Discursive content (including ideas for implementation or discussion in a firm): Standards of behaviour for solicitors The reasonable man Comparative reporting (international) COLP, COFA and accountant debates Reasonableness Dishonesty and reporting Managing investigations Pastoral support; thoughts and feelings Improving compliance Whistleblowing Fiduciary duties Organisational culture Organisational learning as a form of risk management Leadership.
The Law and Regulation of Solicitors: Serious Breaches and Practising Certificate Conditions