A New Guide to SRA Investigations and Tribunal Proceedings
Jonathan Goodwin’s new book, Defending Solicitors, is the ultimate guide for any Solicitor facing an SRA investigation or proceedings before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Jonathan is a Solicitor Advocate with 30 years’ experience in professional disciplinary and regulatory law. He has acted in more than 1,500 regulatory and disciplinary cases.
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”.
As Jonathan explains, our profession trains its members in everything except the moment the profession turns its gaze on them. Good books exist on this subject, but they are written for the adviser handling the case, not for the person who is the case. So, he wrote one.
Who The Book Is For
Defending Solicitors is primarily for Solicitors who have received a letter from the SRA, face an investigation or have been referred to the Tribunal. It is also relevant to juniors, trainees, and compliance officers who need to understand the process and their responsibilities within it. The book recognises that regulatory proceedings can affect health as well as professional life. Its practical structure helps readers identify immediate issues, understand the stages ahead, and decide what to do next.
What The Book Covers
The opening chapters deal with the investigation and the first 48 hours, including what that initial period is not for. They cover production notices, the duty to cooperate and self-reporting, including when a report must be made and how to make it properly. Jonathan also addresses regulatory delay and what a solicitor can do about it.
The book then considers fines, warnings and rebukes before moving to the Tribunal and the people involved in it. Separate subjects include dishonesty, lack of integrity, Accounts Rules breaches and interventions.
Later chapters cover referral, agreed outcomes, giving evidence, sanction, costs and appeals. The position of juniors, trainees and compliance officers is addressed, together with the effect of proceedings on a solicitor’s health.
Every chapter ends with three things to do now.
Experience Behind The Book
With over 30 years of experience of professional disciplinary and regulatory law for 30 years, Jonathan has acted in more than 1,500 regulatory and disciplinary cases since 1996, including 20 years prosecuting and presenting cases for the SRA and its predecessor bodies before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
He has also prosecuted for the Architects Registration Board, the General Osteopathic Council and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. His work has included regulatory investigations, written representations, advocacy before tribunals and committees, disciplinary proceedings and prosecutions. He now defends solicitors and other regulated professionals facing action by their professional bodies.
That experience has allowed Jonathan to write a guide written from both sides of the regulatory process. It takes the reader from the first communication with the SRA to the final stages of a case, while keeping its focus on the solicitor whose practising future may be affected.
Publishing Soon
Defending Solicitors: SRA investigations and Tribunal proceedings, from the first 48 hours to the final appeal will be published soon. Readers can register for one publication email through Jonathan Goodwin Solicitor Advocate Limited.