This week the SRA published a snapshot of the profession and the regulator’s activities. The annual corporate reporting exercise – if nothing else – is an opportunity to find out how the SRA spends your practising fees.
What is the SRA annual corporate reporting exercise?
Every year, the regulator publishes high level insights into its regulatory activities, in categories including:
- Authorising the profession
- Client protection, interventions and the Compensation Fund
- Upholding professional standards
- Education and training
The most recent report covers the practising year 2020-2021.
Key insights in the report
The full report can be found on the SRA website here. Some of the most interesting headlines are:
- Of the 9,860 law firms, over 10% were alternative business structures (ABSs).
- The number of solicitors continues to rise, with over 156,000 practising and over 212,000 on the roll.
- The SRA dealt with over 10,000 allegations of solicitor misconduct.
- There was a fall in the number of sexual harassment allegations.
- 26 law firms were closed down by the regulator, a reduction from 40 in the previous year.
- Of approximately 1,800 investigations, 268 cases resulted in some form of enforcement action, with just over 100 cases referred to the SDT.
- Data shows that black, asian and minority ethnic solicitors are over-represented in the enforcement process, prompting the SRA to appoint university researchers to look again into this situation.
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