LNB NEWS: SRA guidance updates and new warning notice published

Lexis®Library update: The SRA’s new financial sanctions guidance is aimed at firms to ensure they understand their obligations under the financial sanctions regime and what they need to do to comply. It includes a comparison table setting out differences between the sanctions and AML regimes, guidance on controls firms should put in place, screening tools, what to do if a client is sanctioned, reporting obligations, licensing, and the interaction between reporting obligations and legal professional privilege. It also includes guidance on risk assessments, including a list of risk factors and a list of red flags for attempted circumvention of the sanctions regime.

The SRA’s new immigration guidance follows on from its recent thematic review of immigration and asylum work. It covers communications with clients, preparing properly for online hearings, and making it easier for clients to complain or give feedback. 

Effective supervision was one of the areas covered in the immigration thematic review and it is this that has triggered the SRA to produce separate overarching guidance on effective supervision applicable to all solicitors and firms that supervise individuals delivering legal services, including services that are provided by individuals not regulated by the SRA.

The SRA’s latest warning notice sets out the SRA’s expectations in relation to identifying proposed courses of action that could be characterised as SLAPPs, the sorts of behaviours that concern the SRA and that are likely to result in regulatory action and its expectations around the labelling or marking of correspondence. The warning notice is aimed at all SRA-regulated firms and individuals who conduct litigation or give dispute resolution and pre-action advice.

Sources:

• Sanctions regime guidance helps firms stay compliant

• Review looks at the competence of immigration service providers

• Solicitors warned about involvement in SLAPPs

This content was first published by LNB News / Lexis®Library, a LexisNexis® company, on 28 November 2022 and is published with permission. Further information can be found at: www.lexisnexis.co.uk.