At their first Board meeting of 2025, the Legal Services Board (LSB) considered a draft policy statement about professional ethics and the rule of law which it states represents its next step in its response to an issue that it sees as being a core part of current regulatory debate.
Stated to be based on “extensive research, engagement and evidence-gathering”, the LSB has expressed its belief that there is a case for “regulatory intervention to support legal professionals to understand and uphold their ethical responsibilities”.
In the meeting, the Board considered a draft policy statement setting out five ethics related proposed outcomes for regulators to meet and which would require regulators to strengthen their approaches to the following:
- Education and training on ethics and professional responsibilities;
- Regulators’ rules and guidance on the same;
- The support available to legal professionals when challenged;
- Monitoring the conduct of ethics;
- How the impact of the above measures is evaluated and improved as necessary.
There has been a growing emphasis of late on lawyers not being adequately aware of their own professional rules or being willing in some cases to abide by them. So far as the SRA is concerned, this was reflected in its December “Professional Obligations Thematic Review” which concluded that in some firms there was too much reliance on Compliance Officers for Legal Practice (‘COLPs’), compliance teams and external compliance companies and insufficient emphasis placed on individuals’ personal accountable for compliance with regulatory requirements. Given the LSB’s increased interest in this area it can only be a matter of time before the SRA starts to enforce more actively the need for everyone to be more aware of the regulations and ethical obligations to which they are subject.
The LSB in particular have stated that they want to “facilitate a change in workplace and leadership culture, so that all legal professionals understand their ethical responsibilities and are supported to uphold them”.
Be prepared for an increase in emphasis.