Practice notes
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Practice advice for members
Practice notes are for our members and represent our view of good practice in a particular area. Following the advice in these practice notes will make it easier to account to oversight bodies for your actions. We are updating our practice notes to take account of outcomes-focused regulation (OFR), which was implemented on 6 October.
Latest advice
New: Litigants in person - 19 April 2012
Updated: Criminal Procedure Rules 2011 - 5 April 2012
New: Late payments from the LSC - 23 March
Practice notes by topic
View practice notes listed alphabetically
Compliance - OFR
- Alternative business structures
- Compliance officers
- Conflict of interests
- Overseas practice
- OFR: an overview
- Outsourcing
Compliance - general
- Anti-terrorism
- Anti-money laundering
- Bribery Act 2010
- Damages-based Agreements Regulations 2010
- The Equality Act 2010
- Firm based regulation
- Legal disciplinary practice
- Provision of Services Regulations 2009
- Publicising solicitors' charges
- Use of investigatory powers
Client care
- Cancellation of contracts
- Client care letters
- Complaints management
- Confidentiality around client insolvency
- Deposit protection for client accounts
- Holding client funds
- Information on letterheads, websites and emails
- Initial interviews
- Unclaimed client funds
Costs and fees
Law management
- Alternative business structures
- Articles of Association
- Banking crisis
- Business continuity
- Call recording and mortgage arrears handling
- Closing down your practice
- Compromise Agreements and Section 147 Equality Act 2010
- Data protection
- Depositing records and documents with public sector archives
- Execution of documents by virtual means
- Holiday entitlement
- Information security
- Insolvency of a Qualifying Insurer
- PAYE
- Positive action
- Professional indemnity insurance
- Provision of Services Regulations 2009
- Social media
- Tax payment difficulties
Your career
Anti-money laundering
Children and family
Civil litigation
Crime
- Cautioning foreign nationals for document offences
- Communication with prisoners by mobile phone
- Conflicts of interests in criminal cases
- Criminal plea in absence of full disclosure
- Criminal Procedure Rules 2011
- Criminal prosecutions of victims of trafficking
- Defence witness notices
- Police interviews involving sign language interpreters
- Use of interpreters in criminal cases
- Virtual courts
- Withdrawing from a criminal case
Employment
Immigration
Legal aid
- Late payments from the LSC
- Legal aid contract 2010: Civil
- Legal aid contract 2010: Criminal
- Legal aid: family contract tender
Mental health and incapacity
Residential conveyancing
- Execution of documents by virtual means
- House competitions
- Identity evidence for Land Registry
- Land Registry early completion
- Lender requests for files
- Mortgage fraud
- Mortgage possession claims
- Property and registration fraud
Wills, trusts and probate
- Appointment of a professional executor
- Bankrupt beneficiaries
- Disputed wills
- Estate administration: banking protocols
- Execution of documents by virtual means
- File retention: trusts
- File retention: wills and probate
- Lasting Powers of Attorney
- Making gifts of assets
- Powers of attorney for banking
Tax
Practice notes A to Z
View practice notes listed by topic area
- Acting in the absence of a children's guardian
- Alternative business structures
- Anti-money laundering
- Anti-terrorism
- Appointment of a professional executor
- Articles of Association
- Banking crisis
- Bankrupt beneficiaries
- Bribery Act 2010
- Business continuity
- Call recording and mortgage arrears handling
- Cancellation of contracts
- Cautioning foreign nationals for document offences
- Client care letters
- Closing down your practice
- Communication with prisoners by mobile phone
- Compensation
- Complaints management
- Compliance officers
- Compromise Agreements and Section 147 Equality Act 2010
- Conflict of interests
- Conflicts of interests in criminal cases
- Confidentiality around client insolvency
- Continuing professional development
- Criminal plea in absence of full disclosure
- Criminal Procedure Rules 2011
- Criminal prosecutions of victims of trafficking
- Damages-based Agreements Regulations 2010
- Data protection
- Defence witness notices
- Deposit protection for client accounts
- Depositing records and documents with public sector archives
- Disclosure of tax avoidance schemes
- Disputed wills
- The Equality Act 2010
- Estate administration: banking protocols
- Execution of documents by virtual means
- Family mediation
- File retention: trusts
- File retention: wills and probate
- Firm based regulation
- Flexible working
- Holiday entitlement
- Holding client funds
- House competitions
- Identity evidence for Land Registry
- Information on letterheads, websites and emails
- Information security
- Immigration judicial review
- Initial interviews
- Insolvency of a Qualifying Insurer
- Job seeking
- Judicial mediation
- Land Registry early completion
- Late payments from the LSC
- Lasting Powers of Attorney
- Legal aid contract 2010: Civil
- Legal aid contract 2010: Criminal
- Legal aid: family contract tender
- Legal disciplinary practice
- Lender requests for files
- Litigants in person
- Making gifts of assets
- Mortgage fraud
- Mortgage possession claims
- Overseas practice
- OFR: an overview
- Outsourcing
- PAYE
- Police interviews involving sign language interpreters
- Positive action
- Powers of attorney for banking
- Professional indemnity insurance
- Property and registration fraud
- Provision of Services Regulations 2009
- Publicising solicitors' charges
- Redundancy
- Representation before mental health tribunals
- Social media
- Supervision
- Telegraphic Transfer Fees
- Tax payment difficulties
- Unclaimed client funds
- Use of investigatory powers
- Use of interpreters in criminal cases
- VAT change
- VAT on disbursements
- VAT on legal aid work
- Virtual courts
- Withdrawing from a criminal case
Disclaimer
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.