Writing in this week’s NLJ, Tom Bedford and Chris Dyke, partners at DAC Beachcroft, note the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) ‘has not told firms not to act for Russian nationals’. Instead, it ‘understandably but unhelpfully, says that each case will depend on its individual circumstances’.
Of course, firms should be extra-alert to sanctions guidance while the conflict is ongoing, but what is that guidance? Bedford and Dyke look at the rules, the SRA’s approach and the response from firms. The SRA is carrying out spot-checks and firms that fall foul may face sanctions themselves.
Bedford and Dyke write: ‘In particular, [the SRA] has reminded firms that their duties to clients must not take priority over their public interest obligations.
‘This follows concerns over ‘strategic litigation against public participation’ or ‘SLAPPs’. Further legislation is likely to follow in this area, prompted partly from attempts by Russian oligarchs to use litigation as a weapon.’
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