Why this book exists
Somewhere in England or Wales tonight, a solicitor is reading a letter from the SRA for the fourth time. She has steered clients through crises for twenty years and has just discovered that none of it tells her what to do when the crisis is her own.
The profession trains its members in everything except the moment the profession turns its gaze on them. There are good books on this subject, but they are written for the adviser conducting the case, not for the person who is the case.
So I have written one.
Two convictions run through it, and thirty years have not shifted either. The course of a regulatory case is set far earlier than anyone believes, usually in the first response. And the profession’s fear of its regulator is out of proportion to the reality; and the fear itself does real harm.
What it covers
The investigation
- The first 48 hours, and what they are not for
- Production notices and the duty to cooperate
- Self-reporting: when you must, and how to do it well
- Delay, and what you can do about it
- Fines, warnings and rebukes
The Tribunal, and the people in it
- Dishonesty and lack of integrity
- Accounts Rules breaches and interventions
- Referral, agreed outcomes and giving evidence
- Sanction, costs and appeals
- Juniors, trainees, compliance officers, and your health
Every chapter ends with three things to do now.