SRA less than transparent and giving no out misleading information

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Legal Services Board should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Legal Services Board,

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal and The Law Society confirm that the Legal Services Board oversee the Solicitors Regulation Authority Ltd and that the LSB is sponsored by the Ministry of Justice.

Please refer to the FOIR below put to the SRA on 1 March 2021.
J E Baring Ltd 12146662
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/j...

SRA did not update their register until in excess of 9 months regarding J E Baring & Co (partnership that closed on 1 March 2021) the same day that the SRA FOIR was put in.

1.How many complaints have you received regarding this regulator?

2.Why will they not confirm which (solicitors) legal entity regulated by the SRA are authorised to carry out legal work regarding, Debt Collection, Debt Recovery, Debt and bankruptcy - personal, if any.

3.Are the SRA required to be transparent and hold uptodate information and to regulate the actions of solicitors to protect Consumers, even though they are a solicitors’ paid membership regulator.

Yours faithfully,

Lin Ball

BoardSecretary, Legal Services Board

Dear Lin Ball

Thank you for your request for information held by the LSB about the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Your request was received on 22 December 2021 and I am dealing with it in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I will provide a substantive response within 20 working days – i.e. by not later than 24 January 2022. This will be sent to the email address that you provided [FOI #817953 email].

The reference for your request, which should be quoted in all correspondence, is: 20211222-01.

If you have any queries about this email, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Board Secretary

[email address]

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Lin Ball left an annotation ()

The FCA register is still showing the firm (partnership) J E Baring & Co when this firm was closed on 1 March 2021 and the FCA have confirmed it is the responsibility of the SRA to inform them.

Are all solicitors required to update any changes to their regulator immediately?

BoardSecretary, Legal Services Board

1 Attachment

Dear Lin Ball

Please find attached the response to your recent FoI request.

Yours sincerely

Ethan Fleming
Corporate Governance Manager
[email address]
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Dear BoardSecretary,

Thank you for confirming that LSB have only received 75 contacts since October 2020 - September 2021 about SRA and not all of would be classified as complaints and that the LSB wouldn’t deal with these as complaints.

So with respect what would be the purpose of complaining to the LSB if you do not investigate the SRA as a regulator who fails to regulate solicitors, who does?

Who regulates the regulators or can they simply abuse their positions and cover the backs of their paid membership solicitors and or their firms. If a solicitor breaches the SRA principles can they simply chose to ignore it and how is this not classed as a poor service, especially if no service has been provided or requested.

Yours sincerely,

Lin Ball

BoardSecretary, Legal Services Board

Dear Lin Ball,

Thank you for your further email to the Legal Services Board, dated 11 January 2022. We note your concerns, but we do not have a statutory remit to direct the SRA on individual cases and it is for the SRA to take disciplinary action against individual solicitors and firms it authorises.

The LSB was established by the Legal Services Act 2007, as the oversight regulator for legal services in England and Wales. The Act provides the LSB with its statutory role and remit, including its duty to act in accordance with the regulatory objectives, to maintain appropriate standards in the profession and to apply general principles of better regulation in England and Wales.

As an oversight regulator, the LSB does not handle complaints about individual legal professionals. The Act prohibits the LSB from directing frontline regulators such as the SRA to act in specific disciplinary cases or regulatory proceedings (s32(5) of the Act). Although the LSB cannot direct the SRA in relation to individual complaints, please be assured that the LSB does monitor the performance of the SRA.

To expand on this, you may find it helpful to visit our website https://legalservicesboard.org.uk/our-work to find out more about our role and the way in which we regulate and lead improvements within the sector. We consider regulators’ performance through our regulatory performance framework; enforcement is one of the many areas we assess and hold the regulators to account. You can read more about our work on the regulatory performance framework here: https://legalservicesboard.org.uk/our-wo...

Thank you for taking the time out to write to us and I hope the above information is helpful to you.

Kind regards,
Ethan Fleming (Mr) | Corporate Governance Manager | Legal Services Board
3rd Floor, The Rookery, 2 Dyott Street, London WC1A 1DE
E [email address]

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Dear BoardSecretary,

Dear FOI Central Team,

The FCA have confirmed, who receive their information from the SRA, that J E BARING & CO (the partnership) records on the FCA were NOT updated until 31 December 2021, when this partnership had previously closed on 1 March 2021.

What sanctions if any do the Law Society impose and upon who for the registers failing to be updated with the correct and transparent information?

How are companies created by solicitors that never appear to have traded and who have only filed accounts for a dormant company, and dissolved on 29 Mar 2019 allowed to carry out Debt Recovery work, when neither the company or any of the solicitors are listed on The Law Society register for this area of legal practice and the company has never been SRA regulated?

J E BARING & CO LIMITED
https://www.scottishtrustdeed.co.uk/cred...

Are solicitors exempt from FCA (EPF) when carrying on the business in the legal practice area of debt recovery if neither they as solicitors or their company or partnership are regulated by the SRA for debt recovery work and none of the solicitors or their partnership or companies are listed on The Law Society in the legal area of practice for Debt Recovery.

And if none of JE Baring solicitors (either as partners of their partnership or as directors of their companies both current and dissolved) are listed as carrying out Debt and bankruptcy - personal, as a legal practice area, and are unregulated as a partnership or company to carrying out this work?

Is it illegal to claim to be able carry out any work as solicitors if they are not authorised and regulated by the SRA and listed on The Law Society register for this work.

If there is a hidden exemption for solicitors please provide it.

The current company J E BARING LTD is made up of the following on the Law Society website:

Bradley Keith Bloom areas of practice, Commercial litigation, Company and commercial, Employment, Insolvency and restructuring - business , Litigation- general

Allan James Hooper areas of practice, Commercial litigation, Company and commercial, Conveyancing- residential, Employment, Insolvency and restructuring- business, Litigation- general.

Jack Bending areas of practice, Conveyancing - residential, Landlord and tenant - residential

When were any of the above solicitors authorised and regulated by the SRA to carrying out the following legal practice areas when none are listed on the Law Society register as practicing in these areas.

1. Debt recovery
2. Debt and bankruptcy - personal
3. Please state if any were authorised as a partner of their partnership J E Baring & Co, and/or
4. J E Baring & Co Limited, and/or
5. J E Baring Ltd

Yours sincerely,

Lin Ball

BoardSecretary, Legal Services Board

Dear Lin Ball,

Thank you for your email dated the 17 February 2022. We are mindful of our duty of s16 of the Freedom of Information Act to provide advice and assistance to requestors. Our previous correspondence has outlined our role as the oversight regulator of legal services, and we do not regulate solicitors directly. If you have a complaint about a solicitor or a solicitor's firm this should be made to the SRA https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problem....

Please could you clarify what if any questions you would like us to consider under the Freedom of Information Act in view of the above. Any such request will be treated as a fresh request and responded to within the statutory timescale.

If you wish for us to consider your questions but not under the Freedom of Information Act please email us at: [email address]

Kind regards,
Ethan Fleming (Mr) | Corporate Governance Manager | Legal Services Board
3rd Floor, The Rookery, 2 Dyott Street, London WC1A 1DE
E [email address]

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