Foreign Qualified Lawyers: Professional Title

The request was refused by Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Dear Solicitors Regulation Authority,

1. Can a foreign qualified solicitor (example: Turkey) practice in-house in a tech company (UK based) with the title "Legal Counsel", since UK qualified solicitors have to obtain a practice certificate to do so, which seems very disadvantageous for UK Qualified Solicitors?:
https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/code-o...

If this is allowed, would it be fair for Qualified UK Solicitors to need a practice certificate for such titles in-house?

If the answer is no;
a. Why? What legal provision is violated? ie: What is the offence?
b. On contacting SR over phone call; I received info that it is an offence, but such lawyers are not regulated by you and hence you cannot do anything? Is this true?
c. What is the process to report this and to whom? Should this be referred to the legal ombudsman even though one has not received any services from the concerned individuals? What is the recourse to address this?

Yours faithfully,
Craig Gallaghaer

SRA Information Compliance, Solicitors Regulation Authority

Thank you for contacting the Information Compliance mailbox at the
Solicitors Regulation Authority.

 

We aim to respond to Transparency Code requests within 20 working days and
Subject Access Requests within 40 calendar days.

This email, and any attachment, is intended for the attention of the
addressee only. Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is
not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all
copies and inform the sender by return email and send a copy to
[email address]. Thank you for your co-operation. Please note the
author of this email is not authorised to conclude any contract on behalf
of the Solicitors Regulation Authority by email.

Contactcentre, Solicitors Regulation Authority

5 Attachments

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Thank you for your email of 30 April 2018.

 

I have forwarded your email to our Professional Ethics Team. They aim to
respond within 10 working days.

 

If your query is urgent please telephone the Professional Ethics helpline
on 0370 606 2577. Lines are open 9.00 am – 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday
(closed on Wednesdays between 9.55 am and 11.10 am).

 

If you have any further queries please [1]Contact us.

Yours sincerely,

 

Michael Kane

Customer Services Adviser

Contact Centre
Solicitors Regulation Authority

0370 606 2555

[2][email address]
[3]www.sra.org.uk

 

[4]cid:image001.png@01D0DE7E.F0152EB0 
[5]cid:image002.png@01D0DE7E.F0152EB0  [6]cid:image003.png@01D0DE7E.F0152EB0  [7]cid:image004.png@01D0DE7E.F0152EB0  [8]cid:image005.png@01D0DE7E.F0152EB0

From:    SRA Information Compliance

Sent:     30 April 2018 09:42

To:          Contactcentre

Subject: FW: Freedom of Information request - Foreign Qualified Lawyers:
Professional Title

 

Hi Contact Centre,

 

Could you let us know what information you would provide for question 1?

 

Many thanks,

 

Jack Baraczewski

Information Governance Officer

Solicitors Regulation Authority

The Cube, Birmingham

www.sra.org.uk

 

     

 

show quoted sections

SRA Information Compliance, Solicitors Regulation Authority

Dear Mr Gallaghaer,

 

Thank you for your email,

 

Under our Transparency Code we can provide recorded information, for
example, statistics on the number of reports received.

 

We cannot answer your question or provide comment on specific matters in
response to a request under our Code.

 

I am however able to provide you with the below information outside of our
code that has been provided by our Professional Ethics Team:

 

“The term “Legal Counsel” is often used to refer to a business’s in-house
lawyer, I would suggest that it does mean that the individual has a
professional legal qualification but not necessarily as a lawyer of
England and Wales, he or she could be a foreign lawyer.

 

An individual using that term should be careful that they do not imply
that they are qualified as a solicitor or barrister or that they are
authorised to carry on reserved legal activities (see schedule 2 of the
Legal Services Act 2007 (the Act)).

 

It is a criminal offence to pretend to be a solicitor (Section 21 of the
Solicitors Act 1974) or a barrister (section 181 of the Act) or that you
are entitled to do reserved legal services (section 17 of the Act).

 

So, it would be sensible for such an individual to make their professional
qualification clear. Finally, a Turkish qualified lawyer can provide legal
services in England and Wales but can not carry out any of the reserved
legal services or conduct immigration work. It is an offence to carry on a
reserved legal activity unless authorised or exempt (Section 14 of the
Act).”

 

You may also find our below guidance useful:

 

[1]https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/code-o...

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Jack Baraczewski

Information Governance Officer

Solicitors Regulation Authority

The Cube, Birmingham

www.sra.org.uk

 

     

 

show quoted sections

Dear SRA Information Compliance,

Your response seems very ambiguous.

In statement: “The term “Legal Counsel” is often used to refer to a business’s in-house lawyer, I would suggest that it does mean that the individual has a professional legal qualification but not necessarily as a lawyer of England and Wales, he or she could be a foreign lawyer.
--> You seem to indicate this is normal.

In statement: An individual using that term should be careful that they do not imply that they are qualified as a solicitor or barrister or that they are authorised to carry on reserved legal activities (see schedule 2 of the Legal Services Act 2007 (the Act)).
--> You seem to indicate they need to tread "carefully" ?

In statement: So, it would be sensible for such an individual to make their professional qualification clear.
-> You still seem to indicate, this is a good thing to do though not obligatory. There is no clarity on the statement of "making a professional qualification clear" either.

1. Repeating the question: Is it an offense or not for a foreign qualified lawyer (who is not registered with the SRA nor a qualified solicitor) to use a title such as "Legal Counsel"? - Yes/No?

2. To your advise on "making a professional qualification clear" - how can one make this clear?
To clarify: for example in this case, the job title should be: Legal Counsel (Avakat - Turkey) or should they refrain from using any of the titles listed in: https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/code-o... ( Q3. Are you employed as a practising solicitor, either explicitly or implicitly?)

3. The last question that was also never answered: If there is an offense, to whose notice(which authority) is this to be brought to?

Yours sincerely,
Mr. Gallaghaer

SRA Information Compliance, Solicitors Regulation Authority

Thank you for contacting the Information Governance and Compliance Team at
the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

 

We aim to respond to request for information under our Transparency Code
requests within 20 working days. Information on how we handle these
requests, including a copy of our Transparency Code, can be found on our
website [1]here.

 

We will process and respond to Subject Access Requests within the
statutory timeframes as set out in the relevant data protection
legislation.

 

This mailbox does not deal with reports about solicitors. For information
about how to report an individual or firm please see our website [2]here.

 

 

 

For information on how we handle your personal data, see our [3]privacy
notice.
This email is intended for the addressee only. This includes any
attachments. Its unauthorised use, further processing, storage or copying
is not allowed. If you are not the intended recipient, please let the
sender know and then destroy all copies.
Please note the sender is not authorised to conclude any contract on
behalf of the Solicitors Regulation Authority by email.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.sra.org.uk/sra/how-we-work/tr...
2. http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems...
3. http://www.sra.org.uk/dpa

SRA Information Compliance, Solicitors Regulation Authority

Dear Mr Gallaghaer,

As previously stated, your request has not been handled under our Transparency Code and the information provided was provided outside of our Code.

We cannot comment on the information provided outside of our Code and under our Transparency Code we cannot answer your specific questions.

For more information about our Transparency Code please see our website:

http://www.sra.org.uk/sra/how-we-work/tr...

Yours sincerely,

Jack Baraczewski
Information Governance Officer
Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Cube, Birmingham
www.sra.org.uk

show quoted sections

Dear SRA Information Compliance,

Hi Jack,

This seems a bit disappointing that SRA cannot answer such a basic question such as the below in an unambiguous way:
Is it an offense or not for a foreign qualified lawyer (who is not registered with the SRA nor a qualified solicitor) to use a title such as "Legal Counsel"? - Yes/No?

Having read the transparency code, I can see that the SRA is out of bounds for ALL FOI requests. But the questions posed here do not fall short of any restrictions/limitations mentioned in the SRA transparency code either.

Yours sincerely,

Mr. Gallaghaer

SRA Information Compliance, Solicitors Regulation Authority

Thank you for contacting the Information Governance and Compliance Team at
the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

 

We aim to respond to request for information under our Transparency Code
requests within 20 working days. Information on how we handle these
requests, including a copy of our Transparency Code, can be found on our
website [1]here.

 

We will process and respond to Subject Access Requests within the
statutory timeframes as set out in the relevant data protection
legislation.

 

This mailbox does not deal with reports about solicitors. For information
about how to report an individual or firm please see our website [2]here.

 

 

 

For information on how we handle your personal data, see our [3]privacy
notice.
This email is intended for the addressee only. This includes any
attachments. Its unauthorised use, further processing, storage or copying
is not allowed. If you are not the intended recipient, please let the
sender know and then destroy all copies.
Please note the sender is not authorised to conclude any contract on
behalf of the Solicitors Regulation Authority by email.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.sra.org.uk/sra/how-we-work/tr...
2. http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems...
3. http://www.sra.org.uk/dpa

SRA Information Compliance, Solicitors Regulation Authority

Dear Mr Gallaghaer,

We are unable to provide comment or clarification on specific matters in response to a request under our Code, we can only consider recorded information for release.

Yours sincerely,

Jack Baraczewski
Information Governance Officer
Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Cube, Birmingham
www.sra.org.uk

show quoted sections