The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) are writing to 8,000 law firms to ensure that they all conform to transparency rules and obligations that have been in place for nearly three years. This week, the regulator has sent out questionnaires and declarations for firms to complete to crack down on firms not complying with these essential obligations.
These obligations were introduced after the Competition and Markets Authority proposed that law firms were hard to tell their speciality areas due to a lack of information provided on their websites. Therefore, potential clientele struggled to find a firm that matched their legal interests and issues, as well as price ranges.
These transparency rules have been in place since December 2018. They are in place to ensure that law firms provide details of prices for specific services and information about their experience and credentials.
All firms under the SRA need to complete the declaration by 27 August and have a complying website to their specification. Including the transparency obligations and displaying the SRA logo to show that their practice complies with the highest standards.
So far, the SRA has not declared the sanctions if any firms choose not to comply with these primary obligations. However, this year, many firms under the SRA have been fined for failing to comply with transparency rules. Still, the form of punishment may be more significant now this declaration has been issued to several firms.
The SRA Press Office released a statement stating:
'The SRA Transparency Rules came into effect on 6 December 2018. They are designed to ensure consumers have accurate and relevant information about a solicitor or firm, allowing them to make informed choices. The requirement to display the SRA's clickable logo (also known as the digital badge) came into effect on 25 November 2019, as part of the introduction of the Standards and Regulations.
We now require your firm's Compliance Officer for Legal Practice to declare whether you have a website compliant with the rules and displays the SRA's clickable logo.'
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