1. Introduction
1.1 Who should read this practice note?
All solicitors should read this practice note.
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1.2 What is the issue?
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) implemented outcomes-focused regulation (OFR) in October 2011. OFR is a move away from a rules-based approach to one that focuses on high-level outcomes governing practice and the quality of outcomes for clients.
The SRA has published a Handbook, which sets out all the SRA's regulatory requirements. It outlines the ethical standards that the SRA expects of practices and practitioners and the outcomes that the SRA expects them to achieve for their clients.
The SRA Handbook includes a Code of Conduct (the 'SRA Code'), which replaced the Solicitors' Code of Conduct 2007 (the '2007 Code'). The SRA Code establishes outcomes-focused conduct requirements and each chapter outlines outcomes and indicative behaviours (IBs).
The SRA Handbook and Code has been in force since 6 October 2011. Accordingly, the 2007 Code and all of its rules and guidance, no longer apply to solicitors' conduct, save in respect of any review by the SRA of conduct taken prior to 6 October 2011 to which the 2007 Code will still be applied.
An overview of OFR can be found on the Law Society's website. This provides information on what the SRA Handbook contains, including a summary of the chapters in the Code of Conduct and a summary of the reporting requirements included throughout the Handbook.
Chapter 8 on Publicity in the SRA Code sets out the position previously covered under Rule 7 of the 2007 Code. Your responsibilities in this regard are now to be executed with an outcomes focused approach, rather than one that is rigidly bound by rules. See also our practice note on Publicising solicitors' charges.
The new outcomes must be read alongside other relevant legislation which together determine the information that your practice must provide on its letterheads, websites and emails.
This practice note explains the information that you must include in order to comply with the requirements, and the steps that you should take to facilitate this.
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1.3 Professional conduct
The following chapters of the SRA Code are relevant to this issue:
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1.3.1 Legal requirements
See section 5 (below) for a list of other legal requirements that you must comply with.
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1.4 Status of this practice note
Practice notes are issued by the Law Society for the use and benefit of its members. They represent the Law Society's view of good practice in a particular area. They are not intended to be the only standard of good practice that solicitors can follow. You are not required to follow them, but doing so will make it easier to account to oversight bodies for your actions.
Practice notes are not legal advice, nor do they necessarily provide a defence to complaints of misconduct or of inadequate professional service. While care has been taken to ensure that they are accurate, up to date and useful, the Law Society will not accept any legal liability in relation to them.
For queries or comments on this practice note, contact the Law Society's Practice Advice Service.
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.5 Terminology
Must - A specific requirement in legislation or of a principle, rule, outcome or other mandatory provision in the SRA Handbook. You must comply, unless there are specific exemptions or defences provided for in relevant legislation or the SRA Handbook.
Should
- Outside of a regulatory context, good practice for most situations in the Law Society's view.
- In the case of the SRA Handbook, an indicative behaviour or other non-mandatory provision (such as may be set out in notes or guidance).
These may not be the only means of complying with legislative or regulatory requirements and there may be situations where the suggested route is not the best possible route to meet the needs of your client. However, if you do not follow the suggested route, you should be able to justify to oversight bodies why the alternative approach you have taken is appropriate, either for your practice, or in the particular retainer.
May - A non-exhaustive list of options for meeting your obligations or running your practice. Which option you choose is determined by the profile of the individual practice, client or retainer. You may be required to justify why this was an appropriate option to oversight bodies.
SRA Code - SRA Code of Conduct 2011
2007 Code - Solicitors’ Code of Conduct 2007
OFR - Outcomes-focused regulation
SRA - Solicitors Regulation Authority
IB -indicative behaviour
A glossary of other terms used throughout this practice note is available on the SRA website.
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2. SRA Principles
There are ten mandatory principles which apply to all those the SRA regulates and to all aspects of practice. The principles can be found in the SRA Handbook.
When thinking about how to meet the outcomes in the SRA Code, you must consider the principles which apply across the Handbook including the SRA Code. You should always bear in mind what the ten principles are and use them as your starting point when implementing the outcomes.
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3. Information on letters, websites and emails
As part of your duty to provide a proper standard of service to clients, you must supply them with the information they need to make informed decisions about the services they require and how these will be delivered.
Your letterhead, websites and emails must state that your practice is 'authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority', and must provide:
- Either your practice’s registered name and number if it is a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) or company, or
- If your practice is a partnership or a sole practice, the name under which it is recognised / licensed / authorised by the SRA and the number allocated to it by the same.
Branch offices or departments should also include your practice's SRA recognised name and registration number on letterheads, websites and emails, unless they are outside England and Wales in which case different rules apply. While branches in other jurisdictions may wish to consider including this information on their stationery (to avoid consumer confusion), there is no mandatory requirement to do so. That said, it would clearly assist with compliance with Outcome 8.4 which requires overseas branches to ensure that clients and the public have 'appropriate information?'about them and how they are regulated.
You should also be mindful that all forms of publicity must not be misleading and must be sufficiently informative to ensure that clients and others can make informed choices (outcome 8.1). The SRA's definition of 'publicity' includes:
- all promotional material and activity, including the name or description of your firm
- stationery
- advertisements
- brochures
- directory entries
- media appearances
- promotional press releases, and
- direct approaches to potential clients and other persons
You should also consider whether inclusion of 'authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority' on these documents is necessary to ensure compliance with outcome 8.1.
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3.1 Companies
Under the Companies (Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2008 (the 2008 Regulations), your company - which refers to a company formed and registered in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act 2006 - must state the following on business letters, order forms and websites:
- The address of the company's registered office - and if applicable, that your practice is:
- A limited company, that is exempt from using the word 'limited' as part of the company's registered name
- A limited company that is a community interest company which is not a public company
- An investment company within the meaning of section 833 of the Companies Act 2006.
- The registered number from Companies House.
- The part of the UK in which the company is registered.
There is no need to list the names of directors in business letters but if you do include the name of any one director, other than in the text or as a signatory, you must disclose the name of all directors.
More generally, the Company's registered name should appear in all communications and this would include, for example, business letters, order forms, websites and email.
Companies sometimes describe participants in the practice as 'partners'. This may be misleading, and you should not refer to someone as a 'partner' of your company, unless:
- They are shareowners, directors, consultants, or employees with equivalent standing, and
- They are practising lawyers who would be entitled to own shares as per the SRA Code.
In these circumstances you should include a clear definition of the specific arrangement referred to by the word 'partner'.
Further information related to requirements for companies can be found on the Business Link website.
3.1.1 Emails as 'business letters'
The Law Society considers that it would be good practice to acknowledge emails as 'business letters' when they are formally set out as per the 2008 Regulations, but not when they are used informally in place of a telephone call or other such communication.
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3.2 Partnerships
On your letterheads, partnerships other than LLPs must provide the following:
- if there are 20 or fewer partners, a list of the partners identified as such, or
- if there are more than 20 partners, either a list of the partners or a statement that a list is available for inspection at the office.
You must not mislead clients by wrongly presenting solicitors as partners on letterheads, websites and emails.
Those held out as partners may find themselves being treated as full partners by the SRA, even if they have not entered into a partnership agreement. Placing a line between partners and non-partners is not sufficient - the distinction should be clearly labelled within your list.
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3.3 Limited Liability Partnerships
Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) are not obliged to list members as standard practice. However, if for LLPs with 20 or more members you refer in a business letter to the name of a member (other than within the body of the text or as a signatory) you must also refer to and make available a list of all members identified as such.
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3.4 Registered European and Foreign Lawyers
As stated in the guidance notes for Rule 16 of the SRA Practice Framework Rules 2011, if your firm has persons other than solicitors as managers (in particular where European lawyers are involved), any list of the managers will need to:
- Identify any solicitor as a solicitor
- In the case of any lawyer or notary of an Establishment Directive state other than the UK:
- Identify the jurisdiction(s) - local or national as appropriate - under whose professional title the lawyer or notary is practising
- Give the professional title(s), expressed in an official language of the Establishment Directive state(s) concerned; and
- If the lawyer is an Registered European Lawyer (REL), refer to that lawyer's registration with the SRA
- Indicate the professional qualification(s) of any other lawyer and the country or jurisdiction of qualification of any Registered Foreign Lawyer (RFL) not included above
- Identify any individual non-lawyer as a non-lawyer; and
- Identify the nature of any body corporate, if this is not clear from its name.
In addition, whenever a REL (whether or not a manager) is named on a letterhead used by your firm or in-house practice, your firm or employer will need to follow the guidance as above.
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3.5 Practices established outside of the UK
If your practice is established in another Establishment Directive State, you must state the professional body under which you are regulated and provide details of the applicable rules on websites and emails. (Please refer to section 5 for information relating to overseas practices).
As websites can be accessed from anywhere in the world, your practice's website must comply with the E-Commerce Directive if it is established anywhere within the European Union, which sets out you legal obligations in relation to electronic communications.
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4. Describing your practice and the work you do on letterheads, websites and emails
IB 1.3 of chapter 1 of the SRA Code states that you should ensure that your client is told the following in writing:
• The name and status of the person(s) dealing with the matter, and
• The name and status of the person responsible for its overall supervision.
Outcome 8.1 of chapter 8 states that publicity in relation to your practice - or for any other business - must be accurate and must not be misleading. In so doing, you must ensure that the information provided on your letterheads, websites and emails is not likely to diminish the trust the public places in you and in the provision of legal services generally.
You should also take steps to ensure that you do not use a name or description of your practice that includes the word 'solicitor(s)' if none of the managers are solicitors (IB 8.10).
Equally, you should not produce misleading information concerning the professional status of any manager or employee of your practice (IB 8.12).
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4.1 Other regulated activities
You must ensure that you meet outcome 8.4, which states that clients and the public must have appropriate information about you, your practice and how you are regulated.
Where your practice carries out work other than that regulated by the SRA it is important that clients are made aware of the regulatory status of that work.
IB 8.1 states that, where you conduct other regulated activities, your publicity should disclose the manner in which you are regulated in relation to those activities.
If you provide such services, you should therefore make this clear on your letterheads, websites and emails, and specify which bodies regulate which services where relevant. Other regulatory bodies may require you to provide specific information on your letterheads, websites and emails.
Further, IB 8.2 states that, where your practice is a multi-disciplinary practice, your publicity should make clear which services are regulated legal services and which are not.
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5. Overseas practice
Outcomes 8.1 and 8.4, as referred to above, also apply to your overseas practice.
In addition, publicity intended for a jurisdiction outside England and Wales must comply with any applicable law or rules regarding lawyers’ publicity in the jurisdiction in which your office is based, and the jurisdiction in which the publicity is intended (Overseas Practice 8.1 [OP(8.1)]). Your practice must therefore take steps to facilitate compliance with any such applicable laws.
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6. Related legislation
You must comply with the general law on advertising when providing information on correspondence and promotional material. Chapter 8 of the SRA Code states that the information provided on your practice’s publicity materials must comply with statutory requirements and have regard to voluntary codes.
The following list signposts the relevant requirements:
- Regulations made under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, concerning the content of advertisements
- Sections 20 and 21 of the Consumer Protection Act 1987, regarding misleading price indications
- The Consumer Credit (Advertisements) Regulations 1989 (SI 1989/1125), in relation to advertisements to arrange mortgages
- The Control of Misleading Advertisements (Amendment) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/914), in relation to comparative advertising
- The Data Protection Act 1998
- E-Commerce Directive 2000/31/EC and the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/2013)
- The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/2426)
- The Provision of Services Regulations 2009, in relation to your duty to make your contact details available to clients
- Companies Act 2006, in relation to information that should be included on letterheads.
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7. More information
7.1 Further products and support
7.1.1 Law Society publications
7.1.2 Training and events
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7.2 Practice Advice Line
The Law Society provides support for solicitors on a wide range of areas of practice. Practice Advice can be contacted on 0870 606 2522 from 09:00 to 17:00 on weekdays.
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8. Amendments
This note has been amended from the previous version dated 6 October 2011.
Changes appear at 3.0 to reflect that there is no specific requirement under the SRA Code for branch offices overseas to include the practice?s recognised name and registration number on letterheads, websites and emails.A simplification of the requirements for companies and Limited Liability Partnerships has also been added at 3.1 and 3.2.1.
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