We’re in the age of handbooks, now that the legal profession has gone regulation mad. This particular handbook is much needed- it draws together all of the most important rules and regulations that affect solicitors in one volume with 18 chapters and 21 appendices.
The 18 chapters are conveniently split into four areas: the overview; the rules; fraud and money laundering; and the regulatory and disciplinary system in practice. The heavy detail is found in the appendices, although it’s fair to say that the book needs to be used a bit first in order to find where things are.
In the light of major changes to the legal landscape, it’s more important than ever to keep pace with our rules and regulations. An understanding of regulatory matters has become essential in our dealings with the public- not just to maintain high professional standards, but to identify and deal with regulatory and disciplinary issues as and when they arise. I believe it’s for the latter that the handbook is most useful to the practitioner.
This authoritative work from the Law Society states all the most important rules and regulations. Written with the practitioner’s perspective in mind, it provides expert commentary on the practical reality of the regulatory and disciplinary environment in which solicitors operate. It discusses all of the relevant decided cases in the field and will also be of us to barristers who conduct public access work.
Written by two recognised leading practitioners, Andrew Hopper QC and Gregory Treverton-Jones QC, it provides an insight on issues previously covered by the Guide to the Professional Conduct of Solicitors, the eighth and final edition of which was published in 1999 before the landscape changed forever (thankfully!). Events have now moved on at a quick pace.
The work also includes material that’s relevant and important of the practitioner, but which is not included within the formal rules we have, such as how money laundering, mortgage frauds and investment scams work. Therefore, independently of the published guidance, hopefully you can spot problems before they develop into loss to clients and others, damage to reputation and regulatory interest, and it’s done in a readable way here.
Sir Anthony Clarke writes that hope springs eternal for him when reviewing the authors’ aim that their handbook will be a valuable resource for regulator and regulated alike when they explain and identify areas of particular concern and risk.
Like the confidence of the Master of the Rolls in his Foreword, I know that Hopper & Treverton-Jones have succeeded in their aim of helping to avoid innocent mistakes which can lead to serious consequences. Although, as Sir Anthony says, the internet provides information which is fully up to date at any given moment, he recognises that this handbook gives basic principles which can be readily consulted without going online. That’s its strong point but I would like more web-links with the next edition, please!
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