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08 July 2016 / Dr Tony Harvey
Issue: 7706 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Towards the new Hammurabi?

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The SRA’s attempt to introduce a code of solicitors’ ethics fit for the 21st century should be applauded, says Dr Tony Harvey
  • The SRA wants a clear, easy to understand, professional code of ethics for all solicitors and an entirely separate code relating to the obligations of the business. This approach is both radical and commendable.

Codes telling humanity how to live in the “right” way are nothing new. Perhaps the first is the Code of Hammurabi dating back some 3,000 years. Codes of professional ethics have similar provenance. Many will have heard of the Hippocratic Oath (School of Hippocrates around 420 BC) providing an ethical provenance for doctors and surgeons (“those who cut for stone”). Solicitors’ ethical provenance is rather more modern—the first Guide to the Professional Conduct of Solicitors having been published in 1960.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is the largest regulator of solicitors in the UK and the last major review of the Solicitors Code of Conduct was in 2010 giving rise to the SRA Code of Conduct

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