Accountability and the Regulation of the Large Law Firm Lawyer

Abstract

The regulation of solicitors in England and Wales has undergone great change in the wake of the Legal Services Act 2007. This article considers these regulatory developments through the lens of accountability, focussing on the regulation of transactional lawyers and the large commercial firms. It examines to what extent the Solicitors Regulation Authority's regulatory framework promotes accountability, examining entity regulation, outcomes‐focussed and principles‐based regulation, reporting and disclosure obligations, the Compliance Officer for Legal Practice and the sanctions system. It argues that although transactional lawyers cannot claim the benefit of the ethical principle of non‐accountability, as far as they and their firms are concerned, the regulatory framework is both unnecessary and insufficient. It duplicates the function of accountability to the client and fails to hold transactional lawyers to account for significant regulatory risks that they present, such as the practice of creative compliance.

Liberalisation and the Legal Profession in England and Wales

“…from clients, meaning that solicitors are under-deterred from engaging in socially harmful behaviour to advance clients' immediate interests. 232…”

The legal professions’ new handbooks: narratives, standards and values

“…Two recent articles argued that the principle that solicitors uphold the rule of law could be used to hold commercial lawyers accountable for work which assisted corporate clients' efforts to avoid regulation in other countries 195 or for schemes which '…while strictly legal, undermine the spirit of the law'. 196 Such interpretations of rule of law obligations did not reflect the traditional commitments to legalism. These defend the right of citizens, and corporations, to receive confidential legal counsel protected by LPP, even regarding possibly illegal activity, 197 provided their lawyers do not participate in such activity.…”

Comparative standards of legal advice privilege for tax advisers and optimal reform proposals for English law

“…Whether or not the latter part of this rationale is true is debatable, given the activities of some transactional lawyers in large law firms. According to Loughrey, ‘it is certain that at least some of transactional lawyers’ work involves creative compliance, which involves lawyers adopting strained and technical interpretations of the law in order to defeat its purposes’ (2014a: 740).…”