Shutting the doors of a firm you’ve built or led is unlikely to feel like a compliance task. It’s much more personal. You’ll feel the weight of responsibility to clients, your team and your reputation. At the same time, there are clear regulatory steps that you must get right to avoid falling at the final SRA hurdle.
Responsibility and the role of solicitor managers
Someone has to own the close-down, whether that’s your COLP, your COFA or another senior solicitor stepping in. Their job is to protect clients and keep the SRA informed: oversee files, safeguard client money, and make sure regulatory notifications are accurate and on time.
In a distressed closure or insolvency, the solicitor manager becomes the bridge between the office-holder administrator/liquidator, the SRA and clients. The job is to stabilise client risk. They engage the SRA early to avoid or minimise intervention, ring-fence and account for client money, protect confidentiality and privilege, triage live files for urgent deadlines, and organise orderly transfers to capable receiving firms. They also help the insolvency team understand regulatory constraints.
Start with the SRA
Assuming this isn’t a distressed situation, tell the SRA as soon as you’ve decided to close. Share when the closure will happen and how you’ll handle live matters and client money. This doesn’t need to be complicated, but it does need to be transparent and properly documented.
There is an SRA firm-closure notification form to complete, but it can only be submitted up to 7 days before shutting the doors. Start the drafting the basics early, though: intended closure date, how and when you will cease to hold client money, what’s happening to live files (including urgent and vulnerable matters), arrangements for wills, deeds and archives, any outstanding undertakings, and a named point of contact at any receiving firm. If plans change, update the SRA rather than retro-fitting explanations later.
Prioritise client matters
Clients still come first. Every active matter needs a plan: either complete it before you close, or (with informed consent) hand it over smoothly to another firm. In practice, that means writing to clients in plain English, explaining options and timelines, and recording their decisions.
Don’t forget legacy files. You may need to retain records for six years or more. If files are moving, agree in writing who stores them, for how long, and how access will work. And if you hold client money, account for every penny and return or transfer it correctly. This is not the moment for grey areas.
Stop accepting new instructions as soon as the decision to close is made. Triage live files for critical dates (limitation, court directions, undertakings, sanctions or lender deadlines) and tackle those first. Where you are transferring matters, obtain informed consent and record the rationale.
Original documents (wills, deeds, securities) are never to be destroyed. Create a register, make reasonable attempts to return items, and otherwise arrange secure storage with clear retrieval instructions. Tell the SRA where client papers and will banks will be held and how former clients can access them; your insurer will expect the same clarity.
As part of the close-down checklist, review undertakings and trusteeships. Discharge what you can before closure and record who will be responsible for any that remain. Remember: liability for an undertaking does not vanish when the firm does.
Don’t leave your team in the dark
If you have staff, bring them in early and treat this as a formal process. Follow proper notice and redundancy procedures, pay final salary and holiday, sort pensions, and offer support—especially in close-knit teams. Clear, timely communication prevents rumours and protects morale.
Tie up financial loose ends
Before you wind down operations, get your financial house in order: settle debts, finalise accounts, notify HMRC, and close leases and supplier contracts. Plan for professional indemnity insurance run-off six years’ cover is mandatory and can be costly (usually 2-3 times your annual premium), so build it into your timetable and cash flow.
Client money needs a formal run-off plan. Pay disbursements that are due, return unneeded funds promptly, and deal with genuine residual balances in line with the Accounts Rules and your policy. Keep filing accountant’s reports until you have fully ceased to hold client money, then tell the SRA the exact date you stopped.
If there could be a successor practice (for example, a merger or acquisition of parts of the business), confirm the PII position with your broker before you lock the plan. The run-off mechanics will differ where the successor practice rules apply.
Administrative housekeeping
When the big pieces are done, finish the admin: close bank accounts, update your SRA record, inform HMRC and any professional bodies, and deal with final correspondence and filings.
Think beyond clients and staff when notifying stakeholders. Tell your insurer and broker, bank, accountants, HMRC, the courts, HMLR, the Legal Aid Agency (if applicable), panel managers and introducers, landlord and key suppliers. Put phone, email and post-redirection in place so confidential correspondence isn’t stranded. Update your website with a short closure notice and a clear contact route for former clients.
Plan the technology shut-down. This will involve revoking user access, secure-erasing devices, decommissioning systems, and removing client data from websites and third-party platforms. Set retention and destruction schedules for firm records and CDD files that align data protection, AML and insurer expectations. Keep an audit log of what was deleted, archived or transferred.
Sounds like bureaucracy, but it’s how you draw a clear professional line under the business.
And what about you?
If you intend to keep practising, whether as a consultant, freelancer, in-house lawyer or elsewhere, check your practising certificate and SRA status are in order. This can also be a moment to take stock. What do you want the next chapter to look like?
A few final thoughts
Keep the SRA principles in mind throughout:
- Act in clients’ best interests – make their transition seamless.
- Act with integrity – meet your financial and regulatory obligations fully.
- Provide a proper standard of service – even as you wind down. Don’t leave clients in the lurch.
Document everything: decisions, communications, money movements, file handovers. It can feel cautious, but it protects clients and it protects you. And ask for help where useful – your insurer, a compliance adviser, the Law Society or the SRA can all provide guidance.
